The Cruel Spider
by MajorStupoid
Summary: An alt. universe to the Percy Jackson series, where Percy is a very different person. Percy always felt like a loner, and once he arrived at this new place, where he's told that this is where he belongs, he'd never felt more isolated. Remaining unclaimed by his godly parent even after he finds out who he is, Percy has to deal with prophecies and monsters and worst of all: people.
1. He Seems To Have A Knack For Murder

**Ground Rules: I can change whatever I want in the storyline. The larger story will be the same, and I'll go through the first five books, but anything other than that is fair game.**

 **This is AU, so you should have expected that.**

 **P.S. there will be a bit of strong language used. Percy is a dick, what'd you expect?**

 **Onto the story:**

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Was Percy Jackson the only person who ever wondered how plumbing in Ancient Greece worked? Without electricity, all they had was gravity working on their side. Percy didn't even think himself bright enough to even realize that plumbing was needed…unless he was standing wherever it would come out onto the streets anyway.

Percy Jackson was his name…and oh how we wished he could be lame…no really. Looking back on the events about to unfold, and where he is now, he would have much rather been the loser son of some idiot in Queens or something. Even during that gods-forsaken field trip, he wished he wasn't on it.

To explain a bit about where he was coming from, here's the gist. The above-mentioned random thought about Ancient Grecian plumbing? That was pretty much how Percy's brain worked on a continuous basis; random thought after random thought. His ADHD made sure of that. As for why he was never able to put these thoughts into words and make a kickass reality TV show about them, well, he could thank his dyslexia for that.

Anyway, as for why he was thinking of Ancient Greece at that moment, well, it was where he was heading. Actually he was heading to an exhibit on Ancient Greek and Roman mythology somewhere in Manhattan on a field trip courtesy of Yancy's Academy for Troubled Kids (X-Men?). Why they felt that this knowledge was important at all, you'd have to ask a smarter guy, but at least Percy's favorite teacher was chaperoning.

Mr. Brunner; old, crippled, and extremely lenient in his classes. He usually made the tests really easy too, so he was alright in Percy's eyes.

Who was not alright was the assistant chaperone, Mrs. Dodds. She just kinda…appeared one day. No one really knows what happened, but they say the teacher she replaced had like a nervous breakdown or something. It wouldn't have surprised Percy; anyone who was normal would never be able to handle the worthless idiots that attended the school.

"Yo, Perce," a voice came from Percy's left. His friend Grover Underwood had tapped his shoulder, forcing him out of his thoughts. Percy had known Grover for a while, with the kid being the only one to welcome him to Yancy out of everyone in the student body, but he wasn't quite sure about him.

Grover was obviously an older kid, but no one really talked to him and he attended the same classes as Percy. Thus, one could only assume he was held back a few years, meaning he was stupid. That part kind of excited Percy because that meant that they could be clueless together. However, Grover was a bit too jittery for Percy's taste, too…polite, even with his slang. Grover eventually started calling him 'Perce' as a nickname a while back.

When Percy looked forward, he saw his class, and especially Mr. Brunner, looking at him expectantly. "What'd you say?" he questioned, trying to pass off that he just had trouble hearing the old man, not that he was completely ignoring him.

Mr. Brunner kind of did a half-sigh, like he had already heard this excuse before. Still, he remained calm, even in the face of Percy's disrespectful tone. "I asked you which scene is depicted in this particular exhibit," he repeated.

Percy glanced up at it, finding it familiar. "It's, um…when Cronus-"

"Kronos," Mr. Brunner corrected his pronunciation. Percy shot him a dirty look; he hated being corrected. "Go on."

"When Kronos ate the rock."

"And why did he eat the rock?"

"Because he thought it was Zeus."

"And would you like to explain Kronos' reasoning for this?"

"Depends," Percy narrowed his eyes. "Is this twenty questions?"

A couple of chuckles shook throughout the clump of students, and Mr. Brunner looked slightly peeved himself, even as his facial features barely moved from the mockery. "Well, Mr. Jackson, I do hope you enjoy your jokes for now," he said it as if Percy would regret it. Somehow, he knew he would.

As Mr. Brunner finished Percy's explanation, Mrs. Dodds came up behind him. "See me during lunch break, Mr. Jackson."

"Bite me," he wanted to say, but he just nodded, knowing he couldn't get out of this scolding.

By the time lunch had rolled around an hour had passed. So, Percy thought, he could pull the ol' "I forgot you told me, sorry" excuse he'd pulled many times before to get out of punishment. Unfortunately, Mrs. Dodds didn't forget, and she pulled him aside, holding onto him liek her life depended on it. Or maybe like his life depended of it. Her fingernails actually hurt him, not that he would admit it, but they honestly felt too sharp to be safe for school grounds. She had to be breaking a concealed weapon rule with her nails alone.

Alas, she dragged him back to the Greek exhibit, where he expected a typical scolding, where he'd have to kiss up to get the least amount of punishment and whatnot. But no, instead, she turned into a chicken with a human head.

Well, not really. Once they were alone (literally, the exhibit was even empty of tourists), Mrs. Dodds materialized farther away from him. "You've done it this time, Mr. Jackson," she said, calmly, like she'd done this a thousand times with delinquent students like him.

"I know," Percy said half-heartedly. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

Mrs. Dodds ignored him. "Confess," she said, her voice somehow different than before. "Confess your crime."

"Which one?" he wondered, thinking himself clever for the comeback. It was all a farce however; he'd never committed a crime…that he knew of.

"Enough games!" the creature suddenly snapped, as its form blurred from a scrawny Mrs. Dodds, to a strange, almost bat-like creature with leathery, dull-gray skin.

"Whoa…" was all Percy had time to say before it attacked.

"Confess to the theft!" it screeched, it's voice sounding like a cat's when it was in danger, only, like, a thousand times gruffer and scarier.

As the monster lunged, Percy let his instincts take over. It was a gut reaction, as he rolled to the side to dodge its initial attack, and it was one he was thankful for.

" _It's time_ ," Percy heard a voice in his head. Well, he didn't actually hear it, but he definitely felt it. The feeling was so foreign that Percy actually thought he had said those words in his head himself. Either way, he felt something in his pocket catch his attention. Unfortunately, this allowed the monster to get a shot off on him, just barely scratching his shoulder.

Even Percy himself was surprised he reacted to that attack so quickly, getting off with just a minor injury. With the creature rearing for its next attack, Percy reached into his pocket, expecting something like a knife. He wasn't sure why he expected a knife, but enough movies had hard-wired the idea that a pocket knife would be in his pocket. In fact, that's exactly what this felt like to him, after the fact; a really bad movie.

Instead, though, all he pulled out was a pen. Percy's shoulders momentarily drooped, like he just saw his favorite football player get intercepted or something. "Great," he muttered, though he didn't have time to think about it, as the monster attacked again.

" _Click it_!" the voice in his head persisted. This time, Percy was sure he was hearing things, but he clicked the pen anyway. Soon, he felt its weight shift, and before he knew it, his pen had magically elongated into a mighty, three-foot-long sword.

"Da-yum…" Percy was understandably impressed…and totally not freaked out in any way. He suddenly knew what he had to do: swing the oversized toothpick.

As the monster came toward the boy, everything seemed to slow down for him. He easily side-stepped the blow, and swung down onto the creature's leg, which fell off like a twig would from a tree.

"Gah!" the creature reared back, now keeping its distance from the dangerous boy.

Despite the very real danger that Percy knew he was in, he felt his blood pumping and his heart racing. He was having the time of his life. "Oh, this is gonna be fun," he said confidently, slinging the flat of his new sword over his shoulder. It was like he was made to fight with this blade. The creature he was facing was now breathing hard. With the loss of one of its legs, it seemed to be straining. Percy beckoned it toward him. "Come 'ere, I'll take a wing, too, you old hag!" he challenged.

With no other choice, the creature charged again, but it had much of the same result, and Percy really did take a wing. The creature tumbled onto the ground, blood gurgling from its mouth. Percy was absolutely horrified by its appearance, but he was too filled with adrenaline to care. He walked toward the creature. "You will fail, thief."

"I may be able to butcher you, but I'm no thief," he assured it, before stabbing into its chest.

Just as quickly as the Mrs. Dodds-bat appeared, it exploded into a yellowy power which then disappeared in the nonexistent wind.

Percy examined his sword. Part of him thought he should put it into one of the exhibits; it definitely looked like it belonged. But it was his, right? "The pen this transformed from was in my pocket, after all," Percy said to himself, finalizing the matter. Wait, what did he just say. He was so baffled after he said it that what exactly had happened finally dawned on him. Did he just murder his math teacher? Where did she go? Why was she a bat-chicken-thing? So many questions ran through his mind. And then another, more immediate, one came to him. "What do I do with this thing?" he wondered.

Unable to figure out or find a button to make it go back to being a pen, Percy was left with no other choice than to walk out carrying a sword. His fellow students looked at him weird, but he expected them to run away in terror. "Why do you have a baseball bat?" one student asked.

"Eh?" Percy must've been hearing things. He held up his sword.

"Yeah, that's what's called a baseball bat," the kid mocked. Percy was tempted to run him through, but he only gave the kid a 'I'm going to kill you last' look like from Commando. He returned to Grover, who had been eating lunch alone. He eyed the sword suspiciously, and hesitated before speaking.

"Yo, Perce, where've you been? Lost track of you."

"Back in the Greek exhibit, getting a 'scolding' from Mrs. Dodds," he explained bitterly, trying to pass off what happened for what was supposed to happen.

Grover gave him a look of confusion. "…Who?"

"Mrs. Dodds, our math teacher," Percy repeated.

"Never heard of anyone like that," Grover claimed.

Percy chose to ignore it. He'd had enough shit for one day, except… "Hey, Grover, any idea how to put this sword away?"

He was expecting another perplexed look, but Grover responded almost right away. "Just tap it against your foot," he explained, before shaking his head. "I mean…that's a baseball bat, isn't it?"

Grover look to Percy was so serious that the boy wasn't even sure if the cripple was playing a prank. Still, sure enough, when Percy tapped the edge of the blade on his shoe, it took the gesture as sign to retract back into a pen.

"…Weird," he said as he put the pen into his pocket, opting to try and forget what had happened that day.

Unfortunately, nothing ever worked out like that, and sure enough, once the year ended, Percy was kicked out of Yancy Academy.

He expected to be riding back to his mom's house alone, but it turned out that Grover was staying near where Percy lived for the summer, meaning that he rode the same bus as he did. "What a weird coincidence,"Grover claimed.

"Right…but why not get a subway?" Percy questioned. "Why ride with me?"

"Well, two fourteen-year-olds are less likely to get mugged than one, right?" Grover reasoned.

Well, that may have been true for Grover. The kid was a scrawny, stubble-faced cripple, after all, but no one would really want to mess with Percy. He dressed in darker colors, usually with at least a black shirt on, his sleeves ripped up to his shoulders. On top of looking like he was the initiate to some biker gang somewhere, he didn't look like he had really anything worth mugging off of him.

Unfortunately for them, nothing ever went right. The bus actually broke down, and after a while of the interior increasing in heat endlessly, Percy decided he needed some fresh air. Besides, he wanted to check out that stand across the street.

The stand was…unimpressive. What Percy really wanted to check out were the old ladies, the three of them. Not in that way, weirdos, but in the way of morbid curiosity. They were easily as old as time itself, meaning their skin totally should have fallen off.

The main point is that Percy wanted to get off to make fun of them. They probably wouldn't have heard him anyway. Grover, however, had different plans. "Hey, Perce, let's get back on the bus," he said, tugging at Percy's arm.

"Why?" Percy questioned, oblivious to the fact that Grover was crippled so standing up and being active wasn't exactly his forte. He was far too busy having a staring contest with the old ladies, who were staring right at him, as opposed to the dozen other people standing outside.

"Oh gods…" Grover grimaced. "Don't look at them," he said. "They'd better not be looking at you."

"Eh?" Percy was fixated on the yarn they were spinning. The middle lady acted slowly, methodically. She took a pair of scissors, and cut the yarn. Instantly, Percy felt a bit light-headed. "Y-yeah, let's…get back on the bus."

Once they were on it, Percy smirked, already having forgotten about his light-headedness. "Damn, man, that was cold, when you said 'don't look at them'."

"What?"

"I mean, they weren't that ugly," Percy nudged his friend. "Didn't think you had it in you."

"You say that like you're proud…" Grover moaned. Percy didn't realize it then, obviously, but making fun of those particular old ladies was probably the worst thing to do…he was lucky he didn't end up going over there to say anything to their faces. He would've probably died right there.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys! First off, I urge you to read these whenever I put them at the end, if you care about it. They contain either small behind-the-scenes tidbits or important information regarding scheduling. Or something else that's cool like this.**

 **I'm currently writing the sequel, and in an experiment to save my sleep schedule (because I usually write a lot after midnight) I'm going to be dedicating about an hour to two hours every day that I can to write. During this time, I'll be streaming on twitch, under the username "hikaridewd54". Whether zero people come or a hundred people come, I'll be there writing, and if people are in chat, feel free to ask me anything, whether it pertains to a show, a movie, my writing, or...anything really. I enjoy a good dialogue.**

 **And thanks for reading!**


	2. Percy Meets Disney's Phil The Goat-Man

By the time Percy got back to his apartment, he'd already been asphyxiated by the smell of cigar and alcohol. He promised himself a few years ago that he would never ever drink or smoke in his life, and he was serious about it. Wouldn't you know, Gabe Ugliano had been introduced to Percy a few years ago, as his new stepfather.

It took everything Percy had not to gag from the stench, but he managed to keep it down before he could open a window. Unfortunately due to the weather, the wind came blasting in and making fly a pile of paper's, probably from Gabe's 'job', and blowing on Gabe's cards, revealing that he had a shit hand. "Hey!" he cried, as his friend all chuckled. Percy hadn't even noticed, honestly. "Aren't you gonna clean up?"

"Wasn't planning on it," Percy claimed. "Why?" He tried to think of something clever.

" _Did baby shit his pants?"_ the voice in his head offered.

Yeah, that sounded good. Percy smirked. "Did baby shit his pants?" he mocked.

Gabe got a look on his face like he just stepped on a bug, like he felt annoyed that he'd have to wipe it off his shoe, or in this case, he felt annoyed that he'd have to beat the crap out of Percy for the insult; it wouldn't be the first time it happened either.

Thankfully, it didn't come to that. Instead, a woman walked in. "Gabe, dear, I've finished your seven-layer dip, did you- oh, Percy," she looked relieved.

Instantly, Percy's own hard features softened. His mom was the only person in this whole world who this happened for. He couldn't bear to see her face when he acted tough like he usually did, and she was the only person to make him admit that to himself. She was the only one who he felt like he could talk to. He smiled sheepishly. "Hi, mom," he greeted her.

"Great, Sally, bring it in here, and get the little crap out of here, eh?" he said. Percy could swear he saw the green mist of alcohol come from his breath. He shuttered internally.

" _Gross."_

"Tell me about it…" Percy muttered, before realizing that he was talking to the voice in his head.

"What'd you say, Percy?" his mom wondered.

"N-nothing," he replied, making sure he had his suitcase.

"Alright, well, just let me clean up and then we can leave, alright?" she said. Percy enjoyed how she repeated words.

A while back, he got a call from his mom that once the school year was over, the two of them would go to the beach. He'd been overjoyed at the time, as whenever he'd seen his mom, she was always with Gabe. Now, they could just be alone and talk, like they used to.

Percy liked the beach; it was moody, like him. It could at one moment be the calmest beach this side of the Atlantic, and the next, like it was that fateful night; it was absolutely monstrous, with twenty-foot waves crashing toward the land as a storm raged overhead.

This beach held a special place in Percy's gruff heart; it was equal parts nostalgia and happiness as it was melancholy. This beach was where he and his mom went every summer for a while, where he had his best memories. But to his mom, he could tell that these weren't hers. Her best memory from this beach was when she met his dad. Percy never asked about him.

Percy wanted to tell his mom about the weird bat-thing, his sword-pen, and that old ladies, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He knew that she could see through him too, but in the end, Percy chose to keep it all a secret; what a mistake _that_ turned out to be.

" _Ohoho…you're totally screwed now,_ " the voice mocked Percy awoke from his dream. In it, he had tried to stop a horse and eagle from killing each other as the ground laughed at him…it made more sense in the dream.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Percy asked groggily as he sat up. His mother was already awake, probably from the massive storm overhead, and getting up to answer the pounding at their door.

"Grover?" his mom somehow knew his name.

"Mrs. Jackson, Percy's in danger!" he didn't bother explaining, but Percy's mom understood. Her eyes widened, like she already knew what he was talking about. Before she could speak, a roar was heard. Well, it was more of a bellow, but it was let out in the distance with enough ferocity to be a roar. Percy could only imagine what it came out of, as dragons, last he checked, were never featured in the zoos.

"Percy, let's go," she urged him out of bed and out the front door, where he was met with his friend. Percy could've aske dhim how he got here, what danger he was in, or something else that happened to be really important right then, but he didn't.

"Why do you look like Phil from the Hercules movie?" was his very intelligent and relevant question.

Grover looked down at his legs. "Dang, forgot the pants…" he muttered. His legs, instead of normal, if not crippled, human legs, Grover was standing on what looked like goat's legs, only they were kind of brownish, like furry tree trunks. "Whatever, it doesn't matter! Let's go!"

Just a few seconds later, and they were zooming down country roads. "…Where are we going?" Percy had the nerve to ask. He didn't actually want the answer.

"To a camp," Grover explained. "You'll be safe there."

"Safe? Safe from what?"

"Okay, look, remember Mr. Brunner?"

"The guy who didn't like me? There are a lot."

"The wheel-chair Latin teacher," Grover explained.

"Oh, right."

"Well, remember those myths and legends?"

"Yeah…"

"Grover, you can explain this all later," Percy's mother interrupted, swerving around a weird guy standing in the middle of the road. "Right now, we really need to get to the camp."

"Wait, wait, wait…" Percy got too distracted by what Grover had said. He turned to his friend. "So…you're like…a…man, what are they called?"

"A satyr," Grover said. "Half-man," he gestured to his legs.

"Half…donkey?"

Grover seemed to have a look of realization. He turned to Percy's mom. "We're doomed…"

" _I agree_."

"Not helping," Percy said, to both of them. "Half-goat, then?"

"There you go."

"Well, what the hell? Why didn't you tell me?" Percy almost felt insulted, especially after the Mrs. Dodds incident. "Jeez, I have a life-or-death fight with a chicken woman using a pen-sword, and you have goat legs. What the hell is going on?" he persisted.

"You fought a Kindly One?" Grover snapped, obviously peeved that he didn't tell him, before rearing back a bit. "And won…?"

"Yeah it was easy, but what the _hell_ is a kindly one?!"

"Look out!" Percy's mom yelled as the car hit something and they were sent careening off the road.

The next time Percy was conscious, his mother was trying to pry the door open to get out of the car. Beside him, Grover sat limp, unconscious, but alive. Lightning cracked all around them, as if trying to zero in on their location.

"Percy!" his mom noticed that he was awake. "Help with this door!"

"R-right!" he said, managing to help kick it open. Once all three were outside, with Percy and his mom carrying Grover, Percy saw what they hit, and it was walking toward them.

It was easily seven feet tall. When the lightning cracked, Percy saw that it had the upper body of a bull, but with opposable thumbs. It breathed deep and let out low growls when it exhaled. Each one sent shivers down Percy's spine.

"We need to go," Percy's mom shook him from his daze of fear.

"Where?"

"The big hill on the tree!" she cried over the wind, leading the way. The monster, which Percy recognized as the Minotaur, slowly lumbered toward the car, apparently not being able to see them walk past him, relying on their scent, which it followed linearly. Meaning that once it realized where they'd left the car, he'd come for them.

Unfortunately, they weren't moving fast enough, and the Minotaur managed to pick up their scent. It hunched down to the ground and then it charged almost like a gorilla would. Percy let his thoughts go, thinking he'd just glaze over until he was gored to death, but instead, he pushed his mom and Grover out of the way. "Percy!" she called, but was already running.

He dash as fast as he could away from them, letting the Minotaur chase him until he could feel its breath on his heel, which is where he dove sideways. It was a gamble, but it paid off; the Minotaur couldn't turn very well. When it tried, it charged horn-first into a tree, where it got stuck. Percy was tempted to reach for his pen-sword, but he doubted that he could fight against this thing, especially while also trying to keep it away from his mom and Grover. Sadly, the monster wasn't going to stay stuck for long. When it got free, the end piece of its horn broke off, staying stuck. It looked ready to charge at Percy again, and this time he wasn't able to escape.

Percy felt nothing from the impact, or of the Minotaur's remaining horn gashing his arm open. After the monster vaulted him into the air with its horn in the initial charge, it swatted him away and into the very tree that he'd gotten it stuck on.

Percy didn't black out, but it took him a moment to process what had happened. If anything did it, it wasn't his mom calling his name and inadvertently attracting the monster away from him. It wasn't Grover's weird instrument that he probably pulled from his butt either. It was the pulsating of the wound on his arm and the shortness of breath he had from the Minotaur's head bashing against his chest. He remained sitting and almost comatose just long enough to see the Minotaur grab his mother by the throat as she tried to run to him, and then squeeze her until she exploded in a blast of golden light.

Percy couldn't be sure of that last part, but he was sure of one thing: the Minotaur had killed his mother. Instantly, Percy stood, his body suddenly filled with vigor. He reached up and grabbed the broken off-piece of the Minotaur's horn, and ripped it right out of the tree, which shouldn't have been possible, considering his current condition.

Grover seemed to be praying, but its wasn't like a Christian prayer, but more of a…Grecian one…

"Hey!" Percy called to the monster, holding his bad arm with one hand, and the horn in another. "Come on!" he roared, his voice sounding more powerful, and older. Percy trudged forward like a man about to die but refusing to do so, and that isn't that far off of a description.

Only he wasn't going to die.

As the Minotaur charged, Percy's anger got the better of him. He side-stepped toward the side of the Minotaur where the horn was broken, and shot the broken horn forward and dug it into the Minotaur's skull. The impact should've knocked him off of his feet, but something was keeping him grounded; his indomitable will alone, which was the same thing that was keeping him conscious through the pain. They slid for several meters, but when they stopped, the Minotaur exploded into a dust, just like the Kindly One had.

Upon realizing the battle was over, Percy doubled over. The last thing he saw was Grover running over to him, and a couple of people coming over the hill.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys! So, I just suddenly got this craving to write Percy Jackson for no reason in particular, so here's what I came up with.**

 **Let me know what you think!**


	3. Percy Gets To Meet The Resident Crybaby

Percy had many strange dreams, but his most prominent one was when he was being cared for by a girl. At first, Percy had thought that it was his mother, but as the dream went on, realized that it was a girl around his age, with long blond hair that she kept in a loose high ponytail. Her eyes were this strange sort of gray, almost like a silver color, they were so bright. At the moment, they held nothing but care in them. Percy's dream ended before much else happened.

When Percy awoke proper, he was sitting in a lawn chair on the porch of a big farmhouse. A blanket was over his legs and there was a pillow behind his neck to provide maximum comfort. Percy could've just sunk back into sleep, if not for Grover sitting next to him. "You're awake," Grover stated. Percy nodded back, feeling too tired and sluggish to reply. "What do you remember?"

"Mm…" Percy closed his eyes.

"Perce," Grover shook him.

"I remember…" he tried to recall. Everything was a bit of a blur. "I remember…waking up, and then we drove somewhere, you had these weird goat legs," Percy glanced down. "You _still_ have these weird goat legs. We, um…something hit the car, and we had to make it past the hill and…" Percy froze. " _My mom died while I watched…"_ he thought.

"… _And the bomb was dropped…"_

"And there's an annoying voice in my head," Percy finished, not being able to recount the rest of the story.

" _Hey! I'm not annoying!"_ the voice yelled, causing a slight pressure behind Percy's eye, like he was getting a migraine, but it went away pretty fast.

"You don't remember the Minotaur?" Grover questioned, but upon seeing Percy's pained face, he knew that he did. "Voice in your head?" Grover changed the subject. "Maybe you bonked it harder than we thought," he urged Percy to stand, and handed him a glass of…something. It looked like apple juice, but it tasted like homemade cookies, so it was gone in a few seconds. Whatever it was, Percy felt much better after he drank it. "We'd better get you inside."

"Yeah, about that," the two made their way around the porch, which had extended all around the farmhouse. "I've been meaning to ask where in the heeeeee…." He trailed off, being dumbfounded at the girl that they found leaning against the wall beside two older guys.

Good looks, blond hair, silver-gray eyes. It was the girl that he saw in his dream…which meant that it wasn't dream…

The girl's once caring eyes now held nothing of the sort. They were cold, like silver would be, and calculating. In fact, they seemed a bit…duller, like perhaps she wasn't enjoying whatever it was that she was doing, standing out here with these two guys.

One of them was obviously Mr. Brunner, which completely perplexed Percy. The other one, however, was the one to shake him from his daze; a short, pudgy man whose pudginess came largely from the beer-belly he'd accumulated over the years. Percy's dumb-founded expression soon lowered into a deep-seated scowl. He'd been all too familiar with these types; this old guy would've fit in nicely at one of Gabe's poker games, and he might actually win some of them, unlike Gabe.

"Who're you?" Percy wondered, not bothering to hide his distain for the man.

The man barely paid him any mind. "I'm not sure I like this one," he said to the crowd.

"Mr. D, you don't like any of them," Mr. Brunner mentioned. "Percy Jackson," he beckoned for the fourteen-year-old. "Come, sit."

The blond eyed Percy, her eyes bearing into him. "Hey, could you do something about her? I feel like she's trying to use heat-vision or something," he complained.

The girl looked offended. "I am not!"

"You sure looked it."

"Well, at least I don't drool when I sleep," she returned. Heat rose to Percy's cheeks.

"Neither do I!"

"Oh, really?"

"Annabeth," Mr. Brunner interrupted. "Please go make sure Cabin Eleven has an empty bunk, if you would."

She looked relieved to have permission to leave. "…I'll find Luke," she said, before jogging down the valley and toward the buildings.

"…They look Greek," Percy said without thinking. "The buildings, I mean."

"Very good, Mr. Jackson," Mr. Brunner complimented him, which didn't happen often.

"So, what're you doing here? Did Yancy fire you after they heard what happened with the chicken lady?" Percy questioned.

"Dude, Perce!" Grover nudged him. "Be more respectful!"

"Satyr," Mr. D got his attention as he gestured to the deck of cards in his hand. "You playing?"

Without giving the satyr a chance to answer, the alcoholic dealt the cards to the four of them.

"I actually left Yancy; my work there was done."

"Really?" Percy was uninterested. "Then why are you here?"

"Because this is my home, and it is yours now too," he gestured to the valley. "Welcome, to Camp Half-Blood."

"I feel like that's not PC, Mr. Brunner," Percy muttered.

Mr. Brunner ignored him. "My name is not Mr. Brunner, either, Percy. My name is Chiron."

"Nice to meet you," Percy was barely listening, looking out at all the weird structure down int he valley.

"I'm sure you have questions, but allow me a brief explanation. You remember my class, I hope. Those Greek myths and legends; they happen to all be real. The gods are real, and every monster in myth is, in fact, real. You should know," he reached behind him on a separate table, and pulled forward a shoebox, which he handed to Percy. "You killed one."

Percy opened the box, and saw the broken Minotaur horn inside. Somehow…everything made sense to him.

"So…how do I fit in with all of this?"

"You, Percy, are one of the Half-Bloods which this camp get its name from. Your mother was mortal, sure, but your father, Percy, was one of the gods."

"Really?" now was when Percy started to be more interested. "Well, which one?"

"That's the question of the century, isn't it?"

"What?" Percy couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You mean you're not gonna tell me?"

"I mean I don't know. We don't know who is whose child until they've been claimed, but Grover will explain a bit more of that once we send you into camp proper. Now…do you have any questions so far?"

" _Ask him if there's wifi."_

"There's this weird voice in my head," Percy said as he fished out his pen, which was miraculously still in his pocket. "And this pen just kind of appeared in my pocket when I fought that chicken lady."

"That's because I put it there," Chiron answered. "You needed a weapon to fight the Kindly One off, did you not?"

"So…you could've stopped it."

"Consider my lack of intervention a vote of confidence in your abilities," Chiron replied, thinking nothing of it. Percy couldn't tell if that statement was meant to be passive-aggressive or not, but it sure felt like it. "It is known as Anaklusmos. Do you know what that means?"

Percy did know. "Riptide," he answered. "Cool name…"

"Indeed. As for the voice, it's uncommon for weapons to speak to their wielders, unless the weapon is a powerful artefact, or if someone's soul was woven into the weapon. Though it would not surprise me with that weapon in particular, given its tragic past. Perhaps its original owner has chosen to converse with you."

"Well, can I tell it to stop?"

" _I'm not going away."_

"Never mind," Percy said. "It already gave me its answer."

"Good," Chiron put his hands on the edges of the chair, as if he were about to stand up. "Grover, if you would, show Percy around camp while I stretch."

"Yes, sir," Grover replied sheepishly, like he did around authority figures. Percy had almost forgotten that the satyr was there. Then, before Percy's eyes, what was once a man in a wheelchair had turned into this majestic half-horse thing.

"Cool…" Percy couldn't help but awe.

"Do you know what I am?"

"Not a clue," Percy admitted having forgotten entirely what he learn in Chiron's Latin class.

"Hm…" Chiron just kind of accepted the answer, and strode off.

Grover let out a deep breath, as if he'd been holding it in the entire time. "Whew, okay. Do you…want to start to tour?"

xxxXXXxxx

Grover showed Percy all sorts of places that just confused him. Archery ranges, stables, okay, but arenas, armories, and things like that? "You've got to be kidding…" Percy groaned. "And what do I do here other than learn how to get killed in an Greek war?"

"Well, with luck and with practice, the goal is for you to survive unscathed," Grover said before turning to his tour.

Soon, they came to the cabins, which is what Grover had called them. 'Cabins' was a moderate terms. Some were cabins, like the one with the Roman numeral eleven, but other than that, they had twelve intricately decorated and highly varied mini-palaces. Percy's favorite was number three, which had a water theme. His second favorite was the one with barbed-wire at the top; very war-like.

"You'll be staying in one of these," Grover explained. "Depending on who your godly parent is."

"So…where do I stay until I get claimed?" Percy asked, a bit defensive. Where he'd be staying for any given period of time had always been a bit of a…touchy topic.

"Cabin eleven," Grover gestured to the largest one, but the one with the most people. Even with the extended length, and the double layers, there wasn't nearly enough room for the amount of people staying there. One person in particular stepped forward. He was around nineteen years old, looked like a pirate, right down to the scar that looked like a teardrop. His blond hair was short, and his body was about as fit as Percy had imagined his to be when he turned eighteen. " _I'm getting there,"_ he had always assured himself.

"You the newbie that Chiron mentioned?" the man said with an easy-going smile. Instantly, Percy didn't trust the man. That smile was _too_ perfect. His posture and especially his eyes were too relaxed.

"Y-yeah," Percy didn't realize he stumbled over his words. "Percy Jackson."

"Luke Castellan," he introduced himself. "Son of Hermes, God of Travelers."

"Got it," Percy said, reluctantly taking the man's hand. Luke chuckled.

"Relax; all children of Hermes have the thief look. You'll get used to it, and maybe you'll get your stuff back too," the cabin laughed at the joke. Percy remained straight-faced. Luke pat Percy's shoulder. "Kid, come on, you gotta learn to crack a smile or two. It'd do you good," he offered, his voice so tantalizingly friendly. "Hey, I'm going to the archery range, okay?" he said to his cabinmates before exiting and running into someone. "Hey, Annabeth," he greeted her as he walked past.

"H-hi…Luke…" he was already gone when she said it. Percy couldn't have been sure, as it disappeared as quickly as it had come, but to him, it seemed like the blond was blushing. Then she turned to Percy. She pointed at him and gestured for him to go to her. Percy looked to Grover, who continued the gesture.

xxxXXXxxx

The walk with Annabeth didn't start off so badly. It was a sunny day, she was his age, she was pretty, and the wind let her hair flow a bit. But then she talked.

"Chiron told me to give you a lesson."

"What kinda lesson?" Percy questioned. She didn't answer that question, just took him to the arena. Offshoots made smaller ones, probably for training. "Oh…that kinda lesson," he said as she picked up a sword.

"Always preferred a knife to a sword," Annabeth said off-handedly as she picked one up.

"And I've always preferred the city to a summer camp; we can't all get what we want."

" _And I've always preferred to be a sword, not a pen. Hurry it up!"_ Riptide snapped in my head. Percy clicked it, and the sword rematerialized.

Annabeth made a sour face at the smart remark Percy made at her. "Do you have to be so confrontational?"

"Eh?" Percy had to process that word.

"Never mind," she said. She pointed her blade at Percy's. "That sword is made of Celestial Bronze. It's a magical metal; it can't hurt mortals, only monsters or those with godly blood."

"So, you," was what Percy got out of that.

"That's _if_ you can hit me," she seemed confident. She smirked. "Or what? Afraid to hit a girl?"

"Only if it's you, Dulleyes," he blurted out the nickname, though to her it sounded like mockery, which it kind of was.

"Dull?!" she charged forward unexpectedly, making precise slashes at Percy, who was completely unprepared for the assault. In about three seconds, she had Percy on the ground. "Next time you call me that, it'll be your last," she vowed.

"Okay…" he held out the 'ay'.

"Oh, look, it's another abandoned one!" a girl from across the way called over to them. Annabeth tensed, as if she knew what was coming. Percy stood, seeing that the girl and her group of ugly cronies had watched the scuffle. Annabeth put on a smile. "Clarisse," she greeted. "I was just showing the newbie a few things."

"Yeah, like how to lose control," the girl mocked, walking over.

"I know, right? Talk about reckless," Percy joined.

"Gimme that," Clarisse snatched the sword from Annabeth and readied herself. "We're gonna go a round or two, newbie."

"It's Percy," the half-blood corrected. "Percy Jackson."

"Don't care."

Clarisse was even better with a sword than Annabeth was in her fury. She let Percy take the first move. As he slashed, she raised her blade to stop it, and it felt like Percy was hitting a brick wall with a baseball bat; no give. Clarisse then retaliated, grabbing Percy's wrist and keeping him from fighting back, before bringing a knee into his groin. Percy keeled over, having lost easily.

"Ha! Too easy!" Clarisse boasted, being cheered on by her friends. Frustrated, Percy stood and head-butted Clarisse before she could react, sending her reeling. "Gah! Jeez!"

" _Hey, take it easy!"_ Riptide complained, apparently having been affected by Percy bashing his head into something thick and stubborn. " _But kick her ass!_ "

Unfortunately, Clarisse and her flunkies didn't appreciate that little move, and surrounded him. He didn't want to kill them or maim them, so he couldn't exactly use his sword, so they ended up just grabbing him and dragging him out of the arena and toward the lakefront. "Damn it! Let go of me!"

"You undetermined's need some manners!" she mocked, being the one to try and push his head into the water. Percy, as he drew closer to the water, saw his own reflection.

His black hair was swept to one side, like he'd been facing the same way on a breezy day for hours, his green eyes wide and strained, his face scrunched trying to keep from being submerged and unable to breathe. It was…a bit of a familiar feeling; when he was younger, local bullies would always try to give him swirlies. " _Mom…help…"_ he'd always prayed, but she never came, as he was always at school at the time, and he'd always lost those battles.

And now, he was alone again. Annabeth was standing to the side, waiting for the event to unfold and remaining passive. Other demigods either actively strayed away from the conflict or ignored it. Those that came to watch weren't exactly horrified or itching to break it up. They just stood there, like they were awaiting the kick-off at a football game.

Percy was alone again. " _…I want to be stronger…"_ he told himself. " _…I want to be strong enough to not feel pain anymore, to not be alone anymore…"_

A tug came from his gut, as he felt something give. It turned out to be Clarisse. Percy wasn't sure what happened, but suddenly, he was free from hers and her lackey's hold, and they were flat on the ground, soaked in lake water. Some other demigods gasped, but most had the good sense to turn and walk away before Clarisse got up. For a moment, even Annabeth looked impressed, and the light returned to her eyes. It was the same kind of brightness that came to his mother's eyes whenever Percy showed something to her that he thought she'd be proud of. The thought made him smile sheepishly at her, which returned her to her usual hard stare.

Clarisse got up, but hesitated before attacking again. Ultimately, she apparently decided to just give it up, muttering something about Capture-The-Flag that Friday.

Annabeth walked up to Percy, and gave him her signature stare which bore into him. "What?" he questioned. "Did I do something wrong again?"

"No," she said simply. "But you'd better pick my team for Capture-The-Flag."

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey all! You would not believe how anxious I am to actually get onto the quest, but I figure a real book would try and take time to introduce characters, the camp, etc...kind of the like the actual book did...it's almost like I'm modelling these chapters off of it or something...I'm funny.**

 **Anyway, go ahead and leave a review letting me know what you think, and what I could improve on!**


	4. The River Becomes Percy's Yellow Sun

By the time Percy had returned to cabin eleven, he thought he was going to collapse from mental exhaustion. He found a nice cozy spot and slid down the wall onto his butt. He'd listened to too many stories, been introduced to too many people, and made to force down that dead things were actually what was alive the whole time.

"I know how you feel," Luke's voice entered his ears. "All of us were like that," he said. Luke was carrying a sleeping bag and another bag full of toiletries. "Stole these from the camp store," he said as he set them next to Percy and then sat along the wall with him.

"Thanks; real heroic," Percy said, not really meaning to be rude at the moment, but it just came out from how tired he was.

"Well, I suppose that's what you get when you're the son of the God of Thieves, right? Did you know?" he pointed to his shoes. "That these are actually a pair of Hermes' flying shoes?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, stole 'em from my dad's place a while back," he explained.

"You're serious? You stole from a god?"

Luke waited for a moment, letting the tension build before finally releasing it. "Nah, just kidding," he said with a sly smirk. "The real shoes are somewhere in the cabin. My dad gave 'em to me when I went to Olympus."

"Going to Olympus, huh? Wonder what that's like…"

Luke shrugged. "It's nothing special," he claimed.

"You say after you've had years of experience with this stuff," Percy said.

"Yeah, maybe, and a good few more years before that," Luke said.

"…hard life?"

"Very. Mom's kind of a freak, ran _away_ from home, ran _toward_ a whole bunch of monsters before I even made it to camp. Then my dad wasn't exactly in a rush to claim me, so it took a few years, and then-" he was cut off, but as he rambled, Luke's voice grew a bit more of an edge, like he was bitter.

"Alright, got it," Percy interrupted him. The two sat in silence for a moment. "…It sounded like you had some issues with your dad."

"Well, he gave me those shoes…" Luke tried to pass it off. Percy wasn't buying it. "Well…what's there to like, you know? He never talks to me, left me with my crazy mom…sure, he gave me the shoes, but that doesn't exactly make up for that kinda…empty feeling, whenever I think about him."

It was incredible; it was like Percy was staring into a mirror. "Tell me about it…my dad always hurt my mom. Like as in she looked hurt whenever she thought about him…I wish I knew who he was, at least. You're lucky, Luke," Percy claimed. "At least you know who to be pissed off at."

"Well, at least you _don't_ have to know," Luke returned. "That kinda feeling, when directed at someone…can be dangerous. It can bring out the worst in you sometimes."

"You sound like you're speaking from experience."

"Well…" Luke looked hesitant to share the story, but he eventually relented. "A few years back, I went on a quest, to steal a Golden Apple from the Garden of the Hesperides, right?"

"The who now?"

"Just, it doesn't matter," Luke claimed. "Anyway, long-story-short, things didn't exactly go as planned. Got this big bad scar, right here," he pointed to the one on his face. "But I didn't get the apple. I could've turned around before I approached the tree, but no. I wanted to _prove_ myself."

"To who?" Percy questioned. Luke gave him a look like it should've been obvious. "Your dad? Pft, screw him."

Luke raised his chin, like he was impressed by Percy's character, or perhaps that he hasn't yet been smited for his insolence against the gods. Either way, Percy never saw it. Luke then lowered his chin again. "Percy…" he said the boy's name cautiously. "You don't know what you're talking about," the son of Hermes claimed. " _About what it's like to have that kind of feeling eating away at you,_ " he wanted to say. "But you've got guts," he said instead, standing. "Come on, it's dinner."

The next few days passed in a blur to Percy. He'd been forced to try out a whole assortment of different activities to try and figure out who his godly parent was, and none of it exactly thrilled him.

Archery: crap

Foot-racing: crap

Arts and crafts: crap

You get the idea. Only horseback-riding really spoke to Percy, but that wasn't out of any love for the animals themselves, or their winged subspecies, the Pegasi. At that point, Percy had just kind of accepted the surrealness of it all. Anyway, the only other thing he was half-way decent at was canoeing, which wasn't exactly uber-heroic.

Percy got regular sword-fighting lessons with Luke, which he actually enjoyed, as he came to appreciate Luke's sense of humor more, and as Percy's own barriers slowly dropped as they had for Grover.

Speaking of Grover, he was usually the one to talk to about anything having to do with the weird things coming from the trees or anything else that was weirder than usual around the camp. He explained that the tree things were wood nymphs, by the way.

He also got Ancient Greek classes from Annabeth, who insisted on giving the lessons. She usually spent the first twenty minutes letting Percy eat an extended breakfast as she sat staring at him. While he didn't like that particular aspect, he accepted it because it was more food, which he always enjoyed.

Soon enough, Friday rolled around. After the dinner, where Percy gave an offering to no one, Chiron called the attention of the campers. "It's time!" was all he had to say to get the campers in a frenzy. "Cabins! Choose your team!" two groups of kids dash into the pavilion carrying giant sixteen-foot banners, each emblazoned with symbol respective of the god whose children carried it; owls for the children of Athena, led by Annabeth, and a bloody spear and boar head for the children of Ares, led by Clarisse.

"Huh, girl power…" Percy muttered under his breath as Luke called cabin eleven's attention. It was pretty unanimously to Athena. For some reason, Percy felt just a twinge of animosity toward the decision, even as he himself wanted that outcome.

He looked to Annabeth, who expressed interest in him before, but now, it seemed, he was just one of the faceless fighters that were on her team.

"You're on border patrol," Luke explained to him after hearing the plan.

"That sounds like a bad eighties cop show," Percy said in return, appearing really intelligent and focused in the process.

"Stick to the river, guard it with your life," he said the words ominously.

"You're kidding, right?"

"Of course," he said. "Just a joke," he said, and he meant it too. "But I don't know with those Ares kids, right?" he pointed over to Clarisse, who was giving them a glare back.

Somehow, Percy could tell he'd have to fight her.

Sure enough, once the bell sounded, Percy shot off to the river that they'd specified, and waited. Of course, he was never good at waiting, so Percy's mind drifted. He barely was shaken from his ADHD-daze by the group of five Ares kids, led by Clarisse of course, approached him.

"Payback, you undetermined," she said it like it as an insult.

"Last I checked, you beat me in that fight."

"I meant after that!" Clarisse snapped. "You made Ares look like a push over!"

"You…kinda did that to yourself…just look at how you're dressed…and how you smell…"

Percy wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting from being a smart-ass. What he got, however, was his ass on a silver platter. The first two guys ran up, and Percy could handle them just fine, but once a third was added in, he had trouble keeping up. During his battle with the Minotaur, Percy had this overwhelming strength, equal parts brought on by adrenaline and desperation. In this particular situation, he didn't have that at his disposal, and let's just say that his sword skills weren't exactly refined compared to the Ares kids'.

He was easily knocked to the ground, sword still in hand, and then swatted away by the spear that Clarisse wielded. The blow sent a massive jolt into Percy's system, like he'd just been shocked by someone, only the feeling was about a hundred times more potent.

Percy struggled to stand, even as the Ares kids charged him again. Percy barely had time to put up his shield and then attempt a counterattack, but it was a pathetic one. He was knocked to the ground by just the two guys this time, but even as they got hits on him, battered his shield against his chest, and slashed his arms, Percy stood once again. It wasn't out of belief that he could win, that was for sure.

"Damn, why won't you stay down?" Clarisse cursed. "You could at least beg forgiveness."

Percy smirked beneath the blood that trickled down form a cut on his forehead. That only made the demigods angry, and they once again put him into the ground. The blows from Clarisse's spear hurt the wors,t because they had the added shock. They knocked him into the river, approaching him to further attack.

Percy, suddenly, felt empowered. It was like a thousand suns' energy coursed through him, or perhaps all the energy in the ocean. He surged up, filled with vigor once again. "What the hell's gotten into him?" Clarisse asked her cabinmate, but they looked just as confused as Clarisse. Percy pointed to her and gestured for her fight him.

It wouldn't be like the last time.

Clarisse agreed, unwilling to back down from a challenge, and engaged Percy, who had only his sword, Riptide, to his name. Percy could almost see Clarisse's attacks before they came, and was able to dodge and block them effectively. Clarisse was even having trouble competing. "Oho! Keep up, little girl!" Percy mocked, even as Clarisse was older than him. She growled in frustration, trying to get a foothold in the fight, but Percy was too fast for her one-on-one. The other campers soon joined the fray, but even they were unable to fight back. Percy had a wild grin on his face, milking every second for its worth, until each of the children of Ares were exhausted on the shore.

"Not bad," he heard behind him. He whirled around, ready for another fight. Annabeth reared back when she saw his eyes; hungry. When he saw who it was, Percy cleared his throat. "Where'd you come from?"

"I've been here the whole time," she said impatiently, showing him a Yankees cap. "This turns me invisible."

"Cool…"

" _Bet she uses it to peep on the hot guys at camp."_

"I bet you use it to check out the guys around camp."

"Ew!" heat rushed to her cheeks. "No, of course not!"

"Maybe people like Luke. Tall, dashing?" he knew he'd hit a soft spot when she turned away from him.

"Gods, you're slow."

"Eh? What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"It means what it means; you're so slow!" she turned back to him, her face back to its normal color. "You didn't even realize I set you up, did you?"

"Eh?" he looked at the unconscious Ares kids.

"They were only ever going to go for you, and these were the ones that would give us the most trouble."

"So…" Percy was having trouble keeping up.

"So, I put you somewhere out of the way, they follow and beat the crap out of you while-"

Suddenly, Luke came barreling into the clearing, with the opposing team's flag in tow, with a few other campers covering his retreat into friendly territory, marking the end of the game. They won, but Percy then couldn't help but have this empty feeling. He'd only been a decoy? Boy, that sure was heroic.

He shuffled out of the river, trying to put on a happy face to congratulate Luke on his victory, but as soon as he stepped out of the water, his strength failed him. His wounds now caught up with him, making him fall over from dizziness. No one came to help him up. Only Annabeth seemed to notice.

"Oh gods!" she gasped as the others crowded Luke. She rushed over to Percy. "You…what just happened?"

"I…I-I don't know," Percy claimed, holding his arm where it had been slashed, and just as the Minotaur wound was healing… "I just…walked out of the river, and…" he trailed off.

"Gods…" Annabeth put a hand to her mouth. "I didn't think…you couldn't be…"

"Come, all!" Chiron called. "For a feast, celebrating cabin eleven!"

 **Author's Note:**

 **I want to reiterate that I am indeed reading every review you give me, even if it doesn't show up.**

 **Also, to address one review I got, I promise it'll deviate from the actual books more as it goes on, but thank you for bringing that up!**

 **Anyway, let me know what you think!**


	5. The Attic Passes Gas All Over Percy

The feast that Chiron called was glorious. Or at least, it would've been if Percy had people to talk to. Chiron decided it was to be with Half-Bloods only, meaning Grover wasn't allowed entry; he was off with his satyr friends. Luke was the man of honor, meaning he was never alone to talk to...and that about sums up Percy's list of friends so far. Thus, he sat on a bench and waited, sipping from a magic goblet that refilled his cream soda endlessly.

Percy couldn't help but wonder about what had happened. He wasn't even sure. To his mind, when he entered the water, everything went into slow-motion. His senses heightened and he was able to see more clearly. When he got out of the river, all of his strength had drained, like it hadn't been there at all, almost like he was coming down from a sugar high or an adrenaline high, as was the case after he fought the Minotaur and passed out.

"You look troubled tonight, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth greeted him strangely, almost…gently? That couldn't have been right. She sat beside him, and offered him a shish-kabob, which he accepted and munched on, finding the leftover sweetness from his soda to meld quite well with the meat.

"Do I?" he just kind of accepted the nickname. It was kind of insulting, but he wasn't even sure if it was supposed to be or not. "I thought it was my normal look," he said as he became conscious to the scowl that was on his face.

"I mean, you're not wrong," she chuckled. Percy wasn't laughing. "S-sorry," she quickly apologized. "You looked like your dad."

Percy's ears honed in on Annabeth. "What'd you say?"

"Well, I think it's pretty obvious, don't you?" she wondered. Percy looked at her expectantly. "I…forgot who I was talking to."

"Just get on with it," Percy said impatiently.

"Well, think about it; you got a surge of strength in the water, you lost it when he reached dry land, not to mention when you doused Clarisse at the lake."

"Damn it!" Percy cursed himself. "Who's the sea god…?" he almost didn't want to ask. As he feared, Annabeth gave him a look of disbelief. He expected her to leave for fear of catching his stupidity, but she didn't.

"Tomorrow, we're working double on your Greek history," she vowed. "It's Poseidon. I think your father is Poseidon."

"Poseidon? Like…one of the Big Three, Poseidon?"

"Yeah."

"But…does that mean I was claimed by him?"

"No," she said. "Being claimed usually means that the god's symbol of power appears above your head, and when it happens, people notice. And they ignored you earlier," Annabeth explained. "I wonder why…"

"Yeah," Percy didn't try to hide the bitterness. "I wonder…"

"He'll claim you soon," Annabeth assured. "And if not, you might get a chance to talk to him during the summer solstice."

"What's at the summer-?"

"The gods have meetings at the solstices," Annabeth interrupted, expecting the question. She stood. "Come on," she said. "Let's go talk to Chiron."

" _About what?"_

Percy waited for her to reply, but she just looked at him weird. "Are you coming or not?"

"…Oh," Percy remembered that she couldn't hear Riptide. "A-about what?"

"About your father."

"Let's…not?" Percy offered. "Let's just blow it off for tonight."

"…Hey, if it makes you more comfortable, I can leave and you can talk to him."

"No, it's not-"

"But you _have_ to talk to him as soon as possible. That's why I came over, to goad you into a conversation about it…and to make sure you didn't make a fool of yourself when you talked with him about it."

"Oh, I thought you came over for my charming personality," Percy said sarcastically. Annabeth nodded, as if remembering something, and then smacked her lips before grabbing Percy's arm and giving it a good tug, so he was standing, and then she tugged some more, toward Chiron, who was currently drinking with Mr. D.

"Sir, we have something to tell you," Annabeth claimed, shoving Percy forward. He made sure to look back to silently tell her that he'd totally kill her later. It was only when he turned back to the centaur and the god (he found out what they were during his stay) that he realized that he had absolutely no idea what to say.

" _Just leave. It will be funny."_

"Probably better for my health, too…" Percy muttered.

"Go on," Annabeth urged.

"What do you want me to say?"

"Just tell them what happened at the river," she stated. Reluctantly, Percy did so, being sure to emphasize how it was the water that filled him with energy.

Chiron just sat there as he explained; it made Percy nervous. He couldn't really tell what Chiron was thinking…then again, he couldn't really do that for many people. When the demigod finished his story, Chiron shifted in his chair, mulling over Percy's words. Mr. D leaned over to him. "…I think Father should go ahead and ground Poseidon now."

"No," Chiron said. "After all, he broke the vow years ago as well."

"What? What vow?" Percy wondered.

"Percy, you know World War II?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, what would you say if I told you it was fought between children of the Big Three?"

"I, uh…" Percy had nothing to say to that. He was actually halfway expecting Riptide to make a stupid comment, but I remained silent. "Is that…true?"

Chiron nodded. "Poseidon's and Zeus' children on the side of the allies, and Hades' children on the other side," he explained. "After that, the three gods forged a vow: they swore on the River Styx that they would not bear any more heroes unto the world. A while back, we had found a child of Zeus, Thalia," Chiron claimed. The name seemed to make Annabeth flinch. "Who unfortunately perished."

"So…I'm…not supposed to be born?"

"Well, _that_ has yet to be seen," Chiron assured him.

"Well…why wasn't I claimed? Even if I know who my father is, I can't leave Hermes' cabin until he claims me, right?"

"That is correct, but don't look so down about it. There was likely far too much turbulence in Olympus as it is for Poseidon to risk claiming you yet. Although, this could, in fact, be the perfect opportunity," he looked to Mr. D, who was barely paying attention.

"Is this what you two were talking about, the night Percy came here, with the storm?" Annabeth inserted herself into the conversation.

Chiron got a look on his face, like he was about to give us detention but didn't really want to because he knew we didn't deserve it. It was a look of pity. "Yes, it is. You see, something very important was, erm…stolen, from the gods."

"Did a Hermes kid do it?" Percy suggested.

"No," Chiron said. "At least, not that we know of. Zeus' Master Bolt, the symbol of his power and the single strongest Ancient Greek weapon. It makes the hydrogen bombs dropped on the Japanese look like a dung bomb."

"…and it was stolen," Percy couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Well, what was Zeus thinking? Taking his eyes off of it? What is he, an id-" Percy didn't finish his statement, as a massive crack of lightning struck just outside the camp borders, silencing everyone for a moment before everyone returned to their festivities. Annabeth punched Percy on the arm.

"Be more _respectful_ , Seaweed Brain!" she snapped.

"As I was saying," Chiron returned to the conversation. "This Master Bolt was stolen, and of course, Zeus immediately suspected Poseidon, who has had a history of challenging Zeus' power as the king of the gods. This brings us to why he would not claim you at the moment; if he were to claim you, it would make Zeus even more suspicious as Poseidon, to the point where neither would accept diplomacy to resolve this conflict."

"So…that's it? We just have to wait for the godly meeting at the summer solstice?" Percy questioned. "Just twiddle our thumbs? No way; we should go get the bolt back, right?"

"Percy…do you have any idea what you're saying?" Chiron questioned. "I myself have several ideas about where the bolt is located. Do you have any?"

"Well, no, but I-"

"It might be Hades," Annabeth suggested, practically saving Percy's butt. "He might be a bit sour at Zeus for breaking the pact, and pitting Poseidon against him."

"…Very good, Annabeth. I'd thought Hades to be the most likely culprit as well," Chiron agreed. "Your thoughts, Mr. D?"

"I don't care either way; have them throw their tantrums, it makes no difference to me," he waved the conversation off, growing impatient with it.

"Great, so now we have an idea who did it, let's go get it. The summer solstice in only in like a week," Percy persisted.

"Ten days, to be precise," Chiron said. "But you will not leave camp unless you're leaving on a quest. Not to mention, Hades at least, seems to know of your heritage, given how he sent his Kindly Ones, suspecting that you were the thief. It is unclear if Zeus knows, but given that you haven't been vaporized yet, I'd assume not. I think it's best if we keep it that way."

"I can go on the quest," Annabeth suggested. "It's been a couple of years since someone went out on one, right?" she seemed to be cautious about why.

Chiron considered this. "…Percy,"

"Yeah?"

"Go to the Big House. See the Oracle."

"Where's that?"

"Try the attic," Chiron suggested. "I'll give you temporary leave from the party, hm?

xxxXXXxxx

And so, Percy found himself trudging alone in the night toward a big farmhouse. Just another day in the glamorous life of a hero. Once he actually entered and climbed to the attic, through a fold-down ladder, he saw that there was absolutely nothing there; just a bunch of old junk. There were old shields and swords, old set of armor just collecting dust, the works. One of the weirdest ones was what looked like a really thin elephant's tusk, or maybe…like a snake's fang? Percy wasn't sure.

Then there was the creepy mummy sitting at the window, on an old stool that looked like it barely supported the skeleton. And yes, it was totally a skeleton. Percy knew that much because of the smell of death that filled the room along with must and centuries-old sweat from the heroes who put this stuff here.

Suddenly, as Percy was looking around for something that looked like an 'Oracle', green mist wrapped around his feet. It didn't have physical force however, so all it did was drag his attention back to the mummy, whose eyes now glowed a sickly green color identical to the mist. It spoke into Percy's head, much like Riptide. Come to think of it, Riptide had been unusually quiet during his time up here.

" _I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask…"_ its voice sounded like a mix between that creepy, decrepit grandma who always wanted cranberries, and like someone was whisper-yelling into your ear. It sent chills down Percy's spine. Still, he steeled himself.

"How do I retrieve the Master Bolt?" he asked directly, not dancing around the subject as he guessed that it wanted. He wanted a straight answer, but of course, that would've been far too much to ask for.

The skeleton raised its hand and pointed at Percy.

 _You shall go west, and face the god who has turned_

 _You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned_

 _You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend_

 _And you shall fail to save what matters most in the end_

It took all of Percy's brain power to commit the words to memory. As he struggled to process them, the green mist fade, and the room was left exactly as he found it. "Is that it?" he wondered. "Hey! I asked where to find the Master Bolt!" the Oracle didn't respond, just sat there, lifeless.

Percy let out a frustrated sigh, figuring that what he got was better than nothing, and that he should probably tell Chiron. Once he did, in the presence of Annabeth once again, Chiron looked a bit more relaxed.

"Well, I think we can all sleep a little better now."

"What? Why?" Percy questioned. Annabeth, too, looked relieved. "Am I missing something?" And then she looked annoyed.

"You got a prophecy, Percy," she said it as if it were obvious. "Try and think about the words."

It took Percy a few minutes. "So…I return the Master Bolt, then?"

"Presumably, though we must be cautious," Chiron warned. "Prophecies often have double meanings."

"Like a brain teaser," Annabeth offered, giving an example Percy could at least comprehend. "Like the painting of the duck and the rabbit. The words the Oracle spoke is the picture, and how it actually happens coudl either be the duck or the rabbit; there are usually multiple ways that it could be true."

Percy scratched the back of his head. "…What duck?"

Annabeth turned to Chiron. "We're doomed," she claimed.

"Unless…" Chiron started. "The Oracle as spoken; Percy Jackson is to lead a quest to retrieve Zeus' Master Bolt by heading west. On a quest, it is customary for three demigods to journey together."

"Okay…" Percy didn't really find it a hard choice. "I choose Grover. And…" he pointed at Annabeth. "You, Brighteyes."

"Brighteyes?" Annabeth furrowed her brow. "Are you making fun of me?"

"Well, I already tried Dulleyes, and we saw how _that_ turned out," was all Percy said on it. "So are you in?"

"…Why would I say no?" Annabeth smirked, shaking Percy's hand.

Chiron clopped his hoof on the ground in agreement. "Excellent, then you'll depart in the morning," he said. "But for now," he waved his hand, and a fresh round of food and drink appeared on the campers' tables. "Enjoy the rest of the night!"

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys! Thanks so much for reading, and I know this chapter was kinda slow, but don't worry; it'll pick up next time, and you might get to see some actu T-rated shit, you know?**

 **Anyway, don't forget to review!**


	6. Dracula Has A Fan

The quest was officially announced the night before, which meant all of the other campers had to get up early to see them off. Most just said hello and then went back to bed before they had to get up for chores or archery or something, but some didn't, staying to see them off.

Chiron was having Argus, the camp's watcher, basically, escort them back into New York City. Argus himself had just about a gazillion eyes on his body, including one on the back of his head, which Percy couldn't help but a bit freaked out by, but once Argus smiled and showed his personality, Percy quickly warmed up to him.

The three were about to set off. "Wait!" a voice called them as Luke came dashing up the hill, holding a box in his hand. "Wait…" he stopped in front of them, trying to catch his breath. Once he did, he took Percy aside and handed the box to him. "I wanted you to have these, at least for the quest," he said, offering one of his winning smiles. "To use them, just yell 'maia'."

"They're," Percy was kind of amazed. "These are…your winged shoes," he said in disbelief. "No, I-I couldn't…I mean, these are all you have from your dad, right?"

Luke chuckled. "Well, as a wise man once said to me; screw him."

The two shared a totally manly hug before returning to the others. Luke shook hands with Grover and then shared a hug with Annabeth as well, which seemed to send her into an internal frenzy trying to remain composed. And with that, five minutes later, the three were cruising down the highway into Manhattan.

"…You and Luke seem close," Percy said to Annabeth. He didn't look, but he could tell she was blushing.

"As are you, I see," she said, referring to the gift. "…He's never let anyone use those before."

Percy nodded, not sure how to respond. "…Ten miles, so far…not a single monster…"

"Don't say that," the Athenian snapped, her voice sounding more annoyed than usual. "It's bad luck."

"…Why do you hate me?" Percy wondered. "You've been a smartass since I met you."

"Well, it's not like you're any different," Annabeth countered. Percy didn't back down, however. If there was one thing he could do in an argument, it was persist. "…You're a son of Poseidon, whether he claims you or not. I'm a daughter of Athena. We were _never_ meant to get along."

"But why not?"

"It's just our nature; been so ever since Athens was named. You know the story?" Annabeth questioned, to which Percy shook his head, which only added to Annabeth's annoyance. "When the city was built, Poseidon and Athena each presented a gift to the city to impress the citizens so that they would name it after them. Poseidon gave them a worthless spring, while Athena gave them an olive tree. They obvious chose Athena, and Poseidon has held a rivalry with Athena ever since. It's the same with her children; we're too much like our parents."

"…You believe too much in that stuff," Percy said. "…I'm nothing like my dad…" he muttered, even though it was more to assure himself than his teammates.

Once Argus had dropped them off, the three immediately went on the bus. To where? Anywhere, really. They just needed to keep moving until they could get a game plan, so as to not attract monsters. As one may have guessed, their plan worked swimmingly.

The last three to come onto the bus sent chills down Percy's spine, just by looking at them. Percy hid from their view before they spotted him, though. "I smell them too," Grover claimed.

"Monsters?" Annabeth whispered.

"That's…Mrs. Dodds…" Percy muttered. "Those must be more Kindly Ones," he said, only then recalling that he shoved a sword in her chest. "Wait, but I killed her, right?"

"Monster don't stay dead, Percy," Annabeth stated.

"Personally, I think you're lucky she'd stayed dead this long," Grover claimed as they took off.

"Well, this might be good, but…no, never mind."

"What?" Percy wondered.

"I was going to say that we could find out the entrance to the Underworld form them. You know, like, where it is, but they would never tell us."

"You'd think Chiron would have known, judging how old he is," Percy said sourly.

The three Kindly Ones sat in the front row, with two of them forming an x-shape across the aisle, basically preventing people from leaving. After a while, once they'd entered the Lincoln Tunnel, the three stood up, muttering that they needed to use the restroom, and began walking toward the three demigods.

" _Bad things seem to happen to you on buses, don't they?"_ Riptide mentioned.

"How about any ideas?" he retorted, though Annabeth heard it, tapping her Yankees cap on his knee.

"Here, put it on."

"…Why?"

"It'll turn you invisible," she whispered. "They want you, not us; they've probably been told to ignore demigods that aren't you."

Percy nodded, and put the cap on. He started moving up a few rows, and then ducked into a seat to avoid Mrs. Dodds and her lackeys as they passed, before getting to the front.

" _Okay, so I got past them, now what?_ " Percy thought, seeing that they were almost out of the Lincoln Tunnel. He figured her could maybe trigger the emergency stop to get everyone out, and then fight these things off that way.

" _Uh, they're transforming."_

Percy looked back and saw that their 'transformation' was already complete, with them turning into the chicken ladies that had haunted Percy in his dreams since that day at the museum. Only this time, their targets were Annabeth and Grover, which instantly filled Percy with an unbridled anger. He was tempted to grabbed Riptide and gut them, but he was too far away; by the time he would have gotten there, his partners would've bene clawed to death, even as they were fighting back.

" _Try the wheel."_

What an excellent idea. That was Percy's reaction to that plan, which probably made him all sorts of irresponsible, but he went through with it. Still invisible, Percy jerked the wheel from the driver's hands and yanked it to the left, causing everyone to turn right. Percy looked back just long enough to see the Kindly Ones slam into the window, allowing Annabeth to stab one of them with her knife and kill it. Grover threw cans at the others, distracting them.

The bus spun out of control soon after. Thankfully, they'd gotten out of the tunnel, and then ran into a tree. The emergency lights came on, and the door swung open. Everyone rushed for the doors, with the driver being first. Once everyone was out, Percy removed the cap and drew Riptide. "Hey!" he called. The two remaining monsters lurched toward him and shrieked. "You want me, right?"

"Tell us where it is!" Mrs. Dodds screeched as she leapt onto one of the seats, and cracked a whip into existence.

"What? The square root of 42?" Percy goaded her toward him, allowing Annabeth and Grover to catch their breaths.

"Watch out!" Grover cried as the Kindly One shot the whip toward Percy. He raised her sword hand to keep it from hitting his face, but then it wrapped around, feeling like his wrist was one fire. Mrs. Dodds' friend charged Percy, but he was able to hold it at bay for a moment with a kick, before slashing its neck like butter, making it explode into dust.

Meanwhile Annabeth leapt onto top of Mrs. Dodds, getting her into a choke hold, and wrestled her off of my wrist, even getting her to drop her whip. Annabeth raised her knife to stab it. "Wait!" Percy yelled. "Just hold her down!"

Annabeth gave him a look of disbelief, but didn't argue, even as she lost the upper hand from her hesitation. Mrs. Dodds threw Annabeth off of her back, and spread her wings. As she did, Percy took a knife out from a sheath in his jacket, and stabbed it into one of her wings, and forced it into the floor beneath them.

" _You'd better hope you didn't hit something important."_

Annabeth seemed to get the right idea, stabbing her own to pin down the Kindly One's other wing, while Grover tied up her legs with her own whip. The three stepped back, watching the monster writhe. "Great, we got it. Now what?" Annabeth questioned, gesturing out to see police that had arrived at the site of the bus crash, questioning the driver.

"Just…go outside and keep them from coming inside," Percy said.

"What about you?" Grover wondered.

"Just…trust me," he insisted. Reluctantly, the two climbed over the Kindly One and left the bus, just as an officer was coming to check inside. Apparently, no one saw what was happening or heard Mrs. Dodds' cries. Percy took another looked at this creature, who had attacked him with no prior warning, that had cut up and tried to kill his friends to get to him. He held up Riptide. "You remember this sword?" it screeched at him. "It took a leg _and_ a wing, remember?"

"You must give it to us!" it cried, before Percy slashed its legs off, making it let out a blood-curdling cry.

"No, you're gonna give something to me," he said, his voice low and dangerous, like with the slightest provocation, he would snap. "Tell me where I can enter the Underworld."

"Give it to-" a wing was gone.

Percy grinned a toothy grin, to try and scare the monster. It apparently worked, a little too well, he would later find out. "Tell me! And _then_ I'll end it," he said. "Until then, I just can't cut off your head or stab your heart!"

"You're cruel! Death to you, traitor of the gods! Traitor of Hades!"

" _Ooh, ooh, I got it. Does he look like a bitch?"_

Percy made a sour face. "You're not Sam Jackson, Riptide."

"What?" the Kindly One looked confused.

" _Say what again! I dare you, I double dare you! Say what one more goddam time!"_

Percy decided to ignore it. "Tell me where the Underworld is!" Percy yelled once again, slicing off a wing.

"In Hollywood!" the Kindly One finally cried. "In a recording studio!"

"Which one?!" Percy chopped off another wing.

"DOA!" it cried. Satisfied, Percy stabbed into the monster's chest, and it finally exploded. Percy had to take several deep breaths. Throughout the entire encounter…he can't say it was pleasant, but it had filled him with exhilaration.

" _I wonder if this is how Vlad the Impaler felt…"_

"Isn't he the guy they got the Werewolf from?" Percy wondered.

" _Dracula,"_ Riptide corrected. " _He was named Vlad, who was known as Vlad Dracula, and was the son of-"_

"Oh wait, I stopped caring," Percy said as he tapped riptide against his foot, making it retract into a pen again. He made sure to grab Annabeth's and his own knife from where they were impaled into the ground, and then exited the bus. It seemed that while he was, uh…persuading the Kindly One to talk, Annabeth had gotten the police off their backs. She was looking at him weird, averting her eyes when he looked at her. "What?" he wondered.

"Nothing," she said hastily, as they waited to get back on and at least get their bags, only to hear a loud _boom_ behind them. When they looked, the bus had exploded. Both sets of eyes were on Percy.

"What?" he repeated. "I didn't do that," he claimed.

"All of our bags were on there!" Annabeth snapped, only to see people starting to look at them weird. Realizing that she'd yelled, Annabeth drew back, and the three collectively decided to get the hell out of there.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Any of you guys seen Pulp Fiction? If not, you won't understand the reference that Riptide made.**

 **Anyway, I actually have a question. I said there'd be some mild language in this story, but I want you gys to let me know if you'd be alright if I used the F-bomb. Not excessively, of course, but, let's face it, that's how teenagers talk.**

 **I don't know, let me know in a review!**


	7. Medusa Doesn't Know What PC Means

So…next time Percy plays "never-have-I-ever" he hopes nobody opens with "going through a New Jersey forest while slowly dying inside."

Once the bus exploded before their eyes, probably at the hands of one of the gods, the three demigods fled the scene. They'd been in the woods for a good four hours by then, and when they came out, they were forced to walk along a two-way road, which happened to be situated across from a river. The son of Poseidon kept staring at it as they walked along, almost intrinsically feeling its flow. Offhand, he willed it to stop moving with his hand, and it did for a split second before he lost focus. Percy wanted so badly to jump in, but he could tell his teammates wouldn't be happy about it.

Eventually, the three came to a little shop of the side of the road; Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium. At least, that's what Grover said it read as. Annabeth and Percy were both at a loss on that front.

Immediately, everyone was put off by the creepy gnomes that the store was filled with. However, they trudged on, due to the smell of food that was being cooked in the back. "Hey," Grover smirked. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!" he exclaimed. "Really good statue!"

"Hello," a voice greeted them. When they looked, they saw a middle-aged Middle Eastern woman, with a turban over her head, and a shroud covering her eyes. "And who might you three darlings be?"

"We're, uh-" Percy tried to come up with something on the spot, but Annabeth beat him to it.

"We're orphans," she claimed. "Got lost looking for our ringmaster."

"Oh? Circus people?" the old lady wondered. Annabeth begged Grover and Percy to play along, just with her eyes.

"Y-yeah," Percy agreed.

"Ringmaster said to try the gas station and wait for him there, but we didn't realize how long it would take."

"Oh!" the woman looked a bit hurt. "Then you must be hungry! Here, let me cook you up something."

"I mean…" Annabeth looked around wearily. "We should…probably…" she trailed off, probably being just as enticed by the offer of food to argue. Thus, the three were seated at a table in the back of the store while Aunty Em cooked up some burgers.

Percy had forgotten what burgers smelled like; he'd been eating nothing but grapes, bread, and super-lean meats since he got to Camp Half-Blood. He could only imagine what Annabeth must be thinking about it. He actually decided to ask. "How long's it been since you had greasy food?" he wondered.

"…seven years," she answered, barely hearing Percy and being too preoccupied taking in the smell once again.

Not soon enough, the three were served a great-sized meal, and within a few minutes, they were halfway through it already. "Oh, dearies, you should slow down," Aunty Em said. "Eating too fast will give you heartburn, you know?"

Grover nodded, munching on his vegetables; he didn't eat meat, apparently.

"So…" Percy started, his mouth full. "You get many customers?"

Annabeth elbowed the demigod. "Chew and swallow," she ordered. "Don't talk with your mouth full."

Aunty Em didn't seem to mind, though. "Oh, no," she admitted. "Not many."

"Well, maybe you should've built the place closer to the highway," Percy said, unintentionally sounding quite rude. "Oh, sorry…" he added quickly.

"Actually, Percy, I built this store long before that highway was constructed," she explained. "Alas, I suppose it is my curse. Though now, I get to cherish every customer, and learn about them."

Percy never realized he never gave his name. "So, why'd you start the shop?" Grover wondered, having finished his meal.

"Oh, well, you see, it began as a romance. All great stories do. He was a wonderful man, but…I guess his family didn't want us together. She made a terrible accident happen which drove us apart. My two sisters helped me through it, and had me start this shop, but, alas, they've passed on by now."

Annabeth put her fork down, the gear in her head turning. "Wait…two sisters? Accident?"

"Yes, a terrible accident," Aunty Em repeated. "And now I'm left with my statues. They're all I have left, all I have…to remember them by…"

Annabeth stood. "Come on, guys. The ringmaster is waiting," she urged both Grover and Percy to stand.

"What? But-" Percy started to argue, but it seemed that Grover was catching on as well.

"Yes, we should really get to that station, or he'll leave us behind," he agreed, the two of them starting to leave.

"Hey! What's with you guys?" Percy demanded.

"Perce," Grover warned, before looking to Aunty Em. " _Bla-ha-ha!"_ he let out a bleat. He only did that when trouble was near.

"Oh," Aunty Em held onto Percy. "But can I at least get a photo? To remember you?"

"I-"

"I don't see why not," Percy stopped Annabeth from refusing.

" _You're an idiot."_

Even Riptide was against staying, but Percy had already agreed, so…

The three stood side-by-side, as the woman lined up her shot. Both Annabeth and Grover were tense, and now Percy made sure to have a hand in his pocket, to pull out Riptide at any moment. It was only when they heard the excited hissing did they fully comprehend who they were dealing with. The woman began to unveil her shroud, but Annabeth pushed Percy and Grover down.

" _I bet it's times like this that you wished you actually studied those myths."_

"Shut it, Riptide!" Percy snapped as he drew the blade. Aunty Em reared back at the sight of it, her voice now losing all semblance of gentleness.

"Don't look directly at her!" Annabeth called from somewhere in the room, though Percy had lost track of her. Grover had his eyes closed, his ears trained, and was chucking pieces of statue at the monster.

"You're Medusa?" Percy questioned, almost feeling proud for remembering her name.

"Very good!" the creature snapped, stepping closer to Percy, to where he could see her feet, which had turned into a leathery, grotesque form. Percy stood up, with his eyes shut tight, and backed up, hoping he wouldn't trip over anything.

Thankfully, Grover was doing a really good job distracting Medusa, so Percy made it into another room, what he later learned was the gift shop, safely. He still didn't dare to open his eyes.

"Percy," he heard behind him, scaring him out of his skin. He was so startled, that he actually let out a flying fist, which connected to the speaker's face. "Gah! You prick!" Annabeth snapped.

"Well _don't_ sneak up on people like that!" Percy snapped right back, not feeling remotely sorry for her in the moment.

"Whatever," he heard her rubbing where he hit her. "Listen, you've got to be the one to kill her."

"With pleasure," he said, not even questioning why Annabeth didn't do it while she was invisible. "But I can't get close to her."

"Well, you're gonna have to," Annabeth said. Percy couldn't be sure, but he thought he might've heard a bit of fear in her voice, or at least uneasiness. "You're the one with the sword; all I've got is a dagger," was her justification.

"Well…" Percy thought about it for a moment. "Okay…I think I've got an idea. Which way is the kitchen?"

"What? Why?"

"Just tell me," Percy insisted. He didn't know how Annabeth knew, but she faced him toward it, and he walked until he heard the hum of a dishwasher…or he hoped it was. Either way, he could feel the push and pull of the water, like he could with the river. That was enough for him. Percy could hear Grover desperately fighting against Medusa in the next room. "Hey!" he called. "In here!"

Soon enough, Medusa came in, laughing, but she wouldn't be laughing for long. "Have you finally reached your senses, little boy?" the monster questioned. "Have you realized the futility of this quest?"

Finally, Percy pinpointed where he head was, or at least approximately. He felt the familiar tug at his gut, and whatever was holding the water next to him exploded.

"You're-" Medusa screeched. "How?!"

Percy didn't answer, just willed the water to form again around her head. It took all he had to keep it there, and thankfully he managed to hit the mark. Medusa gurgled and writhed, and soon was distracted enough trying to free herself that Percy was able to approach, and take a swing near the bottom of where his water sphere was.

Her body soon disintegrated like the other monsters, but the head remained. Percy was almost tempted to-

"Don't look at it!" Grover cried, making Percy lose concentration and drop the water, and the head, onto the ground. "It can _still_ turn you to stone."

Annabeth had suddenly appeared behind Percy, and with two towels, which she used to wrap up the head, all with her eyes closed of course. Once it was covered, they all let out a heavy sigh of relief. "…I think I need a nap…" Grover complained.

Annabeth and Percy nodded in agreement. "But I'll admit…I wouldn't have thought of that…" Annabeth claimed, patting Percy's shoulder. He was too tired from two encounters with no rest in-between to register it as a compliment.

Percy left the two then, heading toward the very back room of the store, where a desk was located, along with like a bajillion boxes. After finding the right size for one, Percy checked the desk, finding a good sum of money for perhaps a meal later, a few golden drachmas, which were the currency of the gods, and a few slips to fill out orders for Hermes Overnight Express. Percy scowled when he read the name; this was the guy that abandoned Luke.

The Half-Blood returned to his teammates with the items, and put Medusa's head in the box, also placing a few drachmas in it before closing it, and signing the paper. "To Olympus, from Percy Jackson."

"They're not going to be happy with you," Annabeth warned him.

"They already aren't," he reminded her.

"They'll think you're impertinent."

"I don't know what that means."

After a few seconds, the box had lifted off of the ground, and disappeared in a soft golden glow.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Is it just me, or is "faced" a really weird word? I always feel like I should say "foce" or something like that.**

 **I don't know, anyway, you guys still need to let me know about the whole f-bomb thing. If not, I'm just going with yes.**

 **Be sure to review!**


	8. He's Full of Crazy and Stupid Ideas

The next morning, Grover, it seemed, had been busy. "Why…are you holding a pink poodle?" Percy questioned when he saw it. It immediately barked at him. "Yeah, woof, to you too."

"Oh relax," Grover said, petting the dog's head. "He's just like this in the mornings," he lied. "This little pup right here is actually our ticket west, Perce."

"Really?" Percy was obviously a bit skeptical, and still tired. After his third shift, and once the other two woke up, he took a short hour-long nap, and when he came to, he saw this? "Give me a break."

"It's true," Grover insisted. "This right here is Gladiola. She is a puppy who has a reward to return her; 200 bucks, Perce!"

"Hey, that might actually get us closer to LA," Annabeth said. "Probably not the whole way, though."

Percy laid back down. For all he knew or cared, Grover had stolen the poodle and was going to return it only for a reward. "Sure, do what you want."

And then, in the next hour, the three were on a train headed west. Their money only got them as far as Denver, however, but it was still two days' worth of train travel. "Better than a bus," Annabeth had claimed, to which Grover and Percy agreed.

Percy went ahead and got some more shuteye on the train ride too, getting another eight hours in. When he awoke, he saw that Grover was as well. "Yo," Percy greeted. "How long was I out?"

"Eight hours," Grover said. "Even made her tired," he gestured to Annabeth, who was asleep next to the son of Poseidon. Percy found himself staring a bit too long. "Ooh, did something happen last night?"

Percy quickly turned away. "Nothing of the sort," he claimed, itching to change the subject. "Anyway, Grover, you've got experience, right?"

"Depends…what kind of experience? Like with travel with demigods?"

"Yeah, that. How does this compare?"

"Compare how?"

"Like, have we met more monsters than usual?"

"Oh, definitely," Grover said. "It's probably because Hades knows who your father is, or at least wants you dead…except…nah."

"W-what?"

"Well…" Grover started. "Remember the Fur- I mean, the Kindly Ones? They kept saying 'where is it' and 'return it to us', right?"

"Yeah, but I have no idea what they're talking about. I thought they were just talking about me and just not using, like, the right pronoun or something like that."

"That's what I thought at first too, but…I mean, the Kindly Ones sounded like they were looking for something, not just you. Maybe they think you have something they need, or that Hades needs."

"Like what?"

"Maybe…what if Hades doesn't have the Master Bolt?"

Percy chuckled. "That's ridiculous, Grover," he said immediately. "He's the only suspect, right?"

"Well…I suppose it's possible…" Grover thought carefully about his words. While he did, the train lurch to the side as it rounded the corner, causing Annabeth to fall and lean on Percy's shoulder.

"Oh gods!" Percy complained. "Now what?"

"Stop whining, Perce, you did that to her while you were asleep."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Annabeth kept saying 'get him off; he'll drool on me!' and stuff like that."

"Well…did I?"

"No, you didn't," Grover said. "So what I was about to say is that Hades has his own sacred artifact."

"He does?" Percy was really showing his intelligent side that day. Grover figured he'd have to explain from the beginning.

"Every major god has at least one sacred artifact, and at least one sacred animal. For example, you father Poseidon's sacred artifact is his trident, and his animal is a horse, a fish, or a dolphin. Zeus' are his Master Bolt and an eagle, or a lion, or sometimes a swan. Hades' animal is a screech owl or a black ram, and his sacred artifact is his Helm of Darkness," Grover explained. "It allowed him to literally become shadow; you couldn't see him, hear him, or otherwise know he was there, if not for the utter terror he invokes in people. Let's just say that there's a reason that people are afraid of the dark."

Percy nodded. "So you're saying he might want to bargain? His Helm of Darkness for Zeus' Master Bolt?"

"It's a long shot," Grover admitted. "But it's the only thing I can think of. I think it's clear, though, that he think you have something of value. And, given that you don't and we're going into his domain to bargain…"

"I'm…not liking our odds…" Percy agreed. "But, it's probably best to take this one step at a time, right?"

"Y-yeah," Grover offered a sheepish grin, before reaching down and adjusting his fake foot. "Hey, what'd you ever do with those flying shoes?"

"Hm?" Percy wondered. "Oh, gods…I completely forgot about them. I think…I think I'm wearing them," Percy said, looking at his shoes. It had only been like a day, and he had already completely forgotten. Percy chuckled, embarrassed. "Jeez, so much for using the gifts we were given, right?"

"About those, um…I think you should give them to me."

"What? Why?"

"Well…it's just…we don't really know for sure that Zeus doesn't know about you, right? Even if not right now, he'll eventually find out. If you're in the sky, in his domain, he's probably gonna blast you with lightning, so…"

"Okay…"

"Plus, you probably don't even remember how to use them," Grover smirked, knowing he'd gotten Percy into a corner. The truth was, he had totally forgotten. Soon, Percy relented, and the two switched shoes. Thanks the gods that they wore the same size. "…hey, look, we're pulling in," Grover mentioned after they switched.

Sure enough, the Gateway Arch came into view, with the Mississippi River below it. Annabeth stirred from her sleep, sitting back up as if she hadn't just been using Percy's shoulder as a pillow.

"So, we're in Mississippi?" he guessed.

"Actually," Annabeth yawned. "We're in Missouri," she said. "Because we're at the Gateway Arch."

"Mm," Grover acknowledged. "So, how long until our next train leaves?"

"Looks like…three hours," Percy said as Annabeth stood. "Um…what are you-"

"We're going up to the top," she proclaimed, before walking out. Percy and Grover glanced at each other before following her. It wasn't like they wanted to sit there doing nothing for three hours.

That decision might have just saved Percy a trip to jail, as he saw on the way out a news story about both his disappearance from home, the fact that his mother was also missing, and that he was implicated in that bus explosion back in New Jersey…he could only hope that nothing else would happen.

Oh how he was to be disappointed.

It didn't start off so bad. Well, it started off by boring Percy half to death, but hey, it's better than being maimed by Kindly Ones. Annabeth, who expressed interest in being an architect when she was older, kept spouting all of these different facts about the Arch and how it was built, while Grover and Percy zoned out when following her, with both of them munching on Grover's jelly beans.

Then they climbed into the elevator…thing that was to take them up to the top. While a circular-moving elevator didn't bode well with Percy's stomach, and the fact that he was so high up, Annabeth's ramblings about random facts helped distract his brain from it.

In the car next to them was this really fat lady with this really little tiny Chihuahua. The dichotomy between those two beside each other made Percy inwardly laugh when he first saw them. "My, deary," she complimented Annabeth. "You sure do know a lot about this building, don't you?"

Annabeth grinned sheepishly. "Y-yeah, I've always been a nut for this stuff."

"Really? Well, your parents must be proud!" the woman claimed, instantly wiping the smile off of the blonde's face. "Where are they?"

"They're, uh…"

"They're below," Percy said. "Afraid of heights," he said. He wasn't exactly lying; his mom had always refused to go on a plane.

"I see, well, I suppose it's understandable," she replied as her dog growled. "Oh, shush, sonny."

Percy looked to Grover. "That's the second dog that didn't like me when it met me," he stated. "Is it because I smell?"

"You smell like rotten kelp, yeah," Annabeth teased, giving him a light punch on her arm. "Get over it."

"Whatever…"

Anyway, at the top, Percy couldn't have been more comfortable. He was never too thrilled about heights, especially in a confined space like a plane (which he'd thankfully never been on) or, in this case, a metal box. It was at times like this that he was glad Zeus didn't know who he was, or he probably would've fried him.

Annabeth, of course, kept spouting more facts, while now also adding in what _she_ would've done to this structure. One of her ideas was a glass floor, which Percy couldn't even imagine. He shivered at the thought of looking straight down and standing on nothing, six hundred feet in the air.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the employee working the elevator said that the observation area would close in the next few minutes, and that people needed to start filing out. Annabeth pleaded to stay as long as possible, so the trio was there until it was just them, the fat lady, and the employee. Grover, actually, had to get on the second-to-last ride down, leaving Annabeth and Percy up there alone with the other two. He promised to meet them at the bottom.

All throughout, the lady's dog kept barking. Percy had tried to ignore it, but eventually he couldn't take it. "Hey, lady, could you tell your stupid dog to shut its trap?" he questioned.

"Oh," the woman laughed. "Apologies; I've grown so used to it over the years…now, son, calm down a bit…"

"Son?"

"Yes," the woman flicked out her tongue; it was forked. "My son, Chimera. He's been dying to meet you, Cruel Spider."

"Um…" Percy furrowed his brow at what he'd been called. "Me?"

"Spider…?" Annabeth seemed especially hesitant about the nickname, though it was for a completely different reason.

"Then perhaps your name, Perseus Jackson," the woman clarified.

Before their eyes, the dog that was once a tiny Chihuahua grew and grew until it was about six feet long, with the head of a lion, the body of a massive goat, and a tail that was actually a ten-foot-long diamondback snake.

"…I'd like the small dog back, now," Percy said, uncapping Riptide.

"Oh, you have no idea how long it's been since I got to fight a hero…It really is a shame…" the woman had actually turned into a monster herself, with scaly skin, the aforementioned forked tongue, and reptilian eyes. "Echidna," Annabeth muttered behind Percy. "Mother of all monsters."

"Isn't that a type of mole or…" Percy wondered.

"Anteater?" Athena's daughter offered.

"No!" Echidna yelled. "I _hate_ it when people call me a damn anteater!" she urged the Chimera forward. Percy swung his sword, trying to protect his friend, but the Chimera caught the blade in its teeth, before raking its claws onto Percy's side and arm, making him drop the blade. The Chimera tossed it aside, actually flinging it straight out of the window.

"Cool…any ideas?" Percy asked, not even being surprised at the result of his swing.

"Move!" Annabeth dove right, next to the employee, who was watching the events unfold in horror. Annabeth managed to push the woman into the elevator and send it down.

"Why didn't _we_ get on that?!" Percy demanded as he dodged around the monster's charges and swipes.

"Because the Chimera would've-" Annabeth didn't finish as the Chimera let out a gigantic wave of blisteringly hot fire from its mouth, making Percy's jacket catch on fire, though leaving his shirt untouched. The demigod quickly threw it off, but that set the whole place on fire, as it caught on the carpet. "Because it would've melted us…" Annabeth finished.

The Chimera soon got a hit off on Percy, knocking him into the glass and cracking it with the impact. The Chimera then turned on Annabeth, who drew her dagger in defense. She managed to deflect one swipe, but the next was too much for her.

" _Hey, she did better than you,"_ Riptide reminded Percy, even as it was plummeting into the Mississippi.

"Do you have to be a smartass all the time?" Percy muttered. Annabeth was still trying to stand from being dazed by the last attack, and the Chimera was already on her, its tail rearing back to bite her. "No!" Percy yelled, not really thinking. He jumped in front of Annabeth and took the bite for her. Instantly, he regretted every decision he'd ever made.

It was as if his blood were on fire, sending waves of pain throughout his body constantly. He almost immediately would've fallen limp had Annabeth not caught him and backed up. "Percy, oh gods! You idiot!" she yelled.

"I think…" Percy was struggling to speak even after a few seconds.

"You fool!" Echidna cried, giddy like a schoolgirl. "That poison has enough oomph to put down a Minotaur! What chance did you think you had?"

Percy ignored her. "I…have an idea…" he said, desperate.

"Well, let's hear it," Annabeth urged, as she backed them to the window. The heat within the observation deck was almost suffocating to the demigods, even as the monsters didn't mind.

Percy summoned the last of his strength to kick off and sending both him and Annabeth down into the Mississippi below. Both of them screamed, or tried to, on the way down, with Percy clinging the Annabeth and trying to steer himself to take the brunt of the impact when they hit the water.

So, for Percy, it was mostly the fall that took his breath away, that and the poison. He figured for Annabeth, it was the water when they sunk into it.

The impact, despite what Percy would've guessed, was rather soft. At least, it felt soft, probably due to him being the son of Poseidon. He didn't really know what he was thinking; just that generally the water was good for him, and in this case he turned out to be correct. Almost as soon as he entered the water, the burning feeling from the poison started to subside, like he was being healed. Percy was later able to figure out how to consciously heal poison and wounds using water, but this time, it was purely instinctual.

Percy's eyes flew open, and he could see clearly underneath the water. Actually, he couldn't, due to the muck and grime of the river, along with all of the garbage that had accumulated on the bottom, but he wasn't paying attention to that at the moment. Instead, he turned to Annabeth, who's eyes were closed. She had a pained look on her face, and looked to be choking, like the shock of the impact had sucked all of the air from her lungs.

Percy felt the familiar tug at his gut. " _Air,"_ he begged. " _Give her air."_

Sure enough, the water around her head disappeared, forming a small air bubble. Annabeth took it a deep breath and then coughed several times. She looked around and then looked at Percy, confused. 'How?' she mouthed. Percy shrugged, only then realizing that he could actually breathe fine underwater and stay dry, even his clothes.

Suddenly, Percy got this chill down his spine, like they were being watched. Percy looked around cautiously, expecting another monster, only praying that Riptide would return to his pocket soon. He then started to hear a voice. " _But I don't…"_ it grew too faint to hear. " _I shouldn't have to…"_

Before his eyes, Percy saw a shimmering form appear in the water in front of him. It was a woman, one he didn't recognize, who looked absolutely disgusted, either by Percy or by the river…or possibly both.

" _Fine, I'll help him,"_ she conceded. Annabeth tugged on Percy's shirt, wondering what he was seeing. Apparently, she was unable to see the water spirit. He ignored her. " _Percy Jackson."_

"Who are you?" Percy demanded, realizing that he could speak normally underwater as well.

" _Isn't that the million-drachma question? Listen, I can't really stay for long in this trash heap, so let's get to the point. You need to go to Santa Monica_ before _you enter the Underworld. Hear me? Before,"_ she emphasized that part to make sure he got it. " _Great? You got this? Good."_

"W-wait, what does that mean?" Percy questioned. "What's at Santa Monica?"

" _A gift, what else? Whatever, I don't have time for this."_

Then, just as quickly as she appeared, the water spirit, or whatever it was, disappeared. It left Percy confused, and Annabeth wondering what the hell he was talking to.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Sorry about the late upload; some family came over and I had to tend to them...and I got a new game...so...yeah.**

 **Don't forget to review!**


	9. They Make Such A Great Team

By the time both Percy and Annabeth waded ashore, a large crowd had gathered at the base of the Arch, along with several police vehicles to inspect who in the hell would think of completely destroying a national monument. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice them come onto land, but Percy did notice that Annabeth looked pretty salty about the fact that she was soaked, and Percy was bone dry.

"Um…want my coat?" he held up a coat that had a giant hole in it from where it had gotten burned. Percy had found it in the river, close to where they sunk.

"No," she said quickly. "Let's just…go to the station."

Suddenly, Percy felt something in his pocket. " _Oh, so you get your coat, but forget about me?"_ Riptide said. " _Real nice. Hey, maybe I'll purposefully jam while turning into a sword next time."_

"Hey, relax, you over-sized toothpick," he said.

"What?" Annabeth wondered.

"Nothing," Percy said before pointing. "Hey, there's Grover. Let's get the hell out of here."

Thankfully, they made it just in time to leave for Denver. On the way, Percy recounted his experience with the water lady, how she was quite rude, and said that they needed to go to Santa Monica before they went into the Underworld. They both agreed pretty willingly.

Then, the next day, they got off in Denver. Shocker, right?

"We should contact camp," Annabeth said. "Let them know about our progress."

The two nodded. "But, um…I don't have a phone on me."

"Relax, I'll Iris-Message them," Annabeth claimed.

"Um…"

"The rainbow goddess, Iris, delivers messages for gods and demigods, provided she's in the mood for it. All it takes is a single drachma," Annabeth claimed, which Percy fished out for her. They then hiked for about a half-hour to a car wash, and entered the one farthest from the road so as to not arouse suspicion.

Grover inserted the required amount of change, and set it to spray. Annabeth then held up the drachma. "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, hear our call," she tossed the coin into the mist, where the light reflected off and made colors, and the coin disappeared. "Camp Half-Blood."

Sure enough, a little image in the shape of an oval appeared. And who was in it but Luke, standing on the porch of the Big House. Annabeth, when she saw him, turned away and started playing with her hair. "Annabeth?" Luke wondered. "What's up? Is something wrong?" he said it like she was his little sister.

"N-no, nothing wrong," she said, her voice barely audible. "We just, um…"

"Gods, you're a spaz. Move over," Percy said as he pushed her out of the way. "Yo, Luke."

"Percy! How's the quest been?"

"Actually, we called, or…messaged…whatever. We're giving an update on that, actually. Where's Chiron?"

"Down at camp. Listen, some real bad stuff is going down here. Alright, we're talking chaos among the campers."

"What happened?"

"Well, once you guys left, word got out somehow about the whole Zeus-and-Poseidon-going-to-war thing and the campers aren't happy. They're picking sides, Percy."

Percy and Grover exchanged glances. The look in the satyr's eyes said that he wanted to talk. "…Hang on, Luke. Annabeth, keep him company," Percy said, getting a death glare from the daughter of Athena.

The two stepped away, and huddled together. "Perce."

"Yeah? What?"

"Luke doesn't know about your dad, right? You didn't tell him?"

"No," Percy claimed. "Didn't really get a chance to."

Grover nodded. "Alright; let's keep it that way."

"Why?"

"Because you haven't been claimed yet, and plus with the brewing war; I don't think it'd be a good idea to announce your presence to other campers, monsters, or even the other gods. Not until this whole lightning thief business is over, you feel me?"

"Right…right, I feel you man," Percy agreed, with the two stepping back toward the Iris-Message. "So whose side is Hermes on?" Percy inserted himself into the conversation again. It actually looked like they hadn't talked all too much. Percy later found out that they only talked about how Annabeth was holding up, not about the camp.

"Split down the middle," Luke claimed. "Athena is the front runner for Zeus, and Ares is going for Poseidon, along with Apollo and a few other cabins," Luke explained. "Chiron's actually down at camp breaking up a fight. Do you want me to give him a message?"

"S-sure," Annabeth said.

"Tell him that we're in Denver, making good time. If all goes well, we'll reach LA in a few days."

"LA? Is that where you're going?"

"Yeah; we're going to the Underworld," Percy hastily explained what had happened up to that point; he didn't want to take up too much more time. Plus, his stomach was killing him from lack of food.

"Well…I'll let Chiron know what's up, then."

"Okay," Grover was about to wipe away the image and shut off the water.

"Wait, Percy," Luke stopped him. "You're wearing those flying shoes, right?"

"Huh?"

"The flying shoes; I'd like to think I helped in _some_ way," Luke gave one of his signature mischievous grins, which Percy now took to be just carefree.

"Yeah," he lied, not wanting to hurt the guy's feelings.

"Cool, cool. Alright, see you all when you get back, then," he said before the image faded on its own.

The three then decided to go to a fast food restaurant. There, they used up the rest of their money buying burgers. Overall, the food was pretty trash, in Percy's opinion, but it was the cheapest option. Unfortunately, they didn't get the chance to enjoy their food for very long, as the entire place went into freeze-frame. The entire setting changed into a kind of dusty reddish hue, upon the arrival of a gnarly Harley motorcycle.

"It's _like we walked into a Mad Max movie,"_ Riptide claimed, and it wasn't wrong.

Who walked in from arriving on the Harley was this stereotypical biker-looking dude. He had dark red shades on, a leather jacket, and an outdated mane of black hair going down his neck.

" _And now we have Lobo from Justice League."_

As it is the man walked into the doorway, everything returned to normal. The man took its time before coming over to the three demigods, but when he did, he acted completely inconsiderate, squishing Annabeth against the window.

Percy immediately didn't like this guy, as he reminded him too much of his Uncle Gabe; disgusting, holier-than-thou, and always acting like the center of attention.

" _Kind of like you."_

"Who are you?" Percy wondered, not even trying to hide the animosity in his voice.

The man looked at Percy threateningly, though he was only half sure of that, because the sunglasses hid the man's eyes. "… I'm sorry, do I know you?"

Percy looked to his teammates, exasperated at the man's bad attitude. Annabeth, it seemed, was equally as confused by this man's presence. Grover, however, kept giving Percy warning glances. Percy gave the man another look, this time a bit more closely. He noticed something familiar about the man, like it's seen that arrogance before. "You're…Ares, right" Percy guessed.

The man leaned back, or he probably wasn't a man. "Hey, maybe you do have a brain in there somewhere," Ares confirmed. Upon realizing who he was, Percy got this unyielding desire to punch someone in the face. His face got white hot, and his fists clenched. Percy was sure that Ares' presence was making him feel this way, but he didn't really care. This kind of sensation, at that moment, felt completely natural. It felt…easier.

"So, why would a god come to here of all places?" Percy questioned.

"Well, you know, I just happened to be in the neighborhood, thought I'd drop by, give you a little advice. You know, that whole good Samaritan shit," Ares claimed as he stole some fries. Percy wanted so badly to grab them right out his hand and stomp them into the ground, just to spite him, but he managed to restrain himself.

The demigod didn't even realize that he had a glare on his face. Even upon realizing this, he didn't bother to change his expression. "You came…to help us?" Percy had to confirm. Ares gave him a look of disbelief.

"What, you kidding me?" he said. "You thought it was going to be that easy?"

" _That_ was _pretty presumptuous of you."_

"So here's the deal: now, you do me a little favor, and I _might_ be able to hitch you a ride west."

Percy locked eyes with his teammates trying to discern whether he should trust Ares. Though, all they gave him were warning glances, being careful not to make eye contact for too long. Percy turned back to the god. "What kind of favor are we talking about?" he inquired. For a moment, he thought he saw Ares smirk, but then was gone just as quickly.

"There's of this water park about a mile west on Delancy. You go in there, you go into the Tunnel of Love ride, and you get my shield. I happen to have left it there," Ares stood, not even waiting for an answer. "You do that, and you meet me back here. Got it?"

After that, he left, leaving the three to wonder what their plan of action was.

xxxXXXxxx

The water park, it turns out, was once called "Waterland." Now, however, it's sign was all mangled and broken, leaving its name completely disfigured. Once the three vaulted over the fence they finally broke their silence that had hung over them since Ares left. "What's with that guy?" Percy demanded. "And what was with you guys back there? Why didn't you help me?"

"Percy…you don't just talk back to a god," Grover explained. "I'm actually surprised he didn't vaporize you right there."

"Let's just forget it and get this over with," Annabeth said, looking forward. "Let's get a move on. We can't afford to waste any time."

Percy wished he could read emotions a bit better. If he could, he might have definitively been able to pinpoint why Annabeth always seemed so distant. It was like she had tunnel-vision constantly. Whenever a detour came, she was always irritable, unless it was _her_ detour, like at the Arch.

" _You three had to kill three hours anyway, remember?"_

"Shut up," Percy said out loud.

"Excuse me?" Annabeth questioned.

"Nothing, let's go," Percy agreed, with the three wandering into the abandoned amusement park. It looked like it hadn't been used it almost ten years. But… "I see a gift shop," the son of Poseidon mentioned.

"So?" Grover questioned, though Annabeth seemed to understand.

"With clean clothes…" she said, almost dreamy at the prospect.

Percy hadn't realized it until he'd seen the shop, but they were all filthy. They hadn't showered since they left Camp Half-Blood, and there clothes were dirty, soggy, and tattered from multiple battles. They honestly looked like a trio homeless people.

So, they did the only sensible thing; robbed the store blind. Well, it wasn't exactly robbing if the store was closed, right?

Once they had all changed, into colors much too bright for Percy's tastes, they proceeded further into the park. Soon enough, they found the Tunnel of Love.

"…Ew…" was Annabeth's reaction once she saw it. The pool in which the water had run years ago had since become dry and rusted. Percy could still feel the ebb and flow of the water in the pipes, but it hadn't been allowed free since this place had been operational.

The three looked at each other wearily. "Well," Percy was the first to break the silence. "Geronimo…" he said as he hopped down into the pool, with the others soon following him. The tunnel went quite a long way in, but they finally found it.

A boat from when the ride of functional lay lifeless in the pool, with a shining shield sitting right in the center.

" _It's not gonna be that easy,"_ Riptide warned Percy, though Annabeth was already on it. She hopped into the boat without a second thought and grabbed the shield, only realizing too late that it was an absolutely horrendous idea.

"The thought occurs…" Percy said. "Why did Ares leave his shield here? What could have made him so suddenly to leave it?"

Annabeth had a look of defeat and acceptance on her face as the building rumbled slightly. "Probably the same thing that I activated when pulling the tripwire attached to the shield."

"…Nice going, Dulleyes," Percy mocked her, causing fire to light in her eyes due to her anger. Good thing for Percy, the death trap that was activated by her was enough to shake her out of her rage.

Several holes appeared in the walls of the pool, and out popped several mechanical buggers. They were all small, small enough to hold in Percy's hand, but there was about a million of them. They were in the shape of-

"Aagh!" Annabeth screamed. "Spiders!"

"Eh?" Percy must've been hearing things. "The _great_ Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, is afraid of spiders?" he chuckled, though he immediately regretted that, as she shot him not a look of anger, but one of fear; absolute and total terror. It completely caught Percy by surprise, and it honestly kind of disturbed him. It was the first time he'd seen her like this. "A-alright, do you have a plan to get out?" he asked, though she was too busy hyperventilating to answer, so Percy took it as a no.

"Maia!" Grover yelled, taking off out of the pool with the flying shoes.

"Hey! Don't leave us behind!"

"I've got the controls, Perce!" Grover called back, dashing toward the control booth that lay within the ride. "I'll try and get some water running!"

Percy thought he could have done that himself, but, sure enough, he was unable to get the water to bust through its container. "Damn, what kind of ride is this?" Percy demanded, realizing later that the pipes were made from Celestial Bronze, and _that_ was why he couldn't bust through it. He couldn't help but think that Ares had set them up for this.

"H…" Annabeth started. "H…Hephaestus…" she muttered, as if that would clear it up. As Percy looked at her, he actually felt sorry for her. Though all the times that she's ragged on him, or vice versa, and all the times that she got annoyed because he wasn't as smart as her…he couldn't wish this kind of paralyzing fear onto anyone. She was almost completely immobilized by it.

"Got it!" Percy heard Grover above them, and as he said it, water burst through and washed away a good chunk of the spiders that were quickly advancing toward Percy and Annabeth, who had gotten into the boat that held Ares' shield. Soon, they started rising, and then, they were off on the ride proper.

"The spiders…" Annabeth muttered, her eyes shut tight. "Are they gone?"

"Yeah, and we've got a new problem, so if you could work that brain of yours, Brighteyes," he motioned to the end of the ride that was about fifty feet ahead of them and twenty feet below them. The gate that would've led to the other side was completely gated off. That meant that the demigods had a dive down to pick up speed, and then a fifty-mile-an-hour face-plant into a watery doom, along with being smashed up with the other boats that already waited at the end. "Gods, I always sucked at timing mini-games…" Percy muttered under his breath.

" _Ever try Wii Music?"_ Riptide suggested. Percy had slowly learned to tune it out.

"On my mark," Annabeth offered, taking Percy's hand. They fell down the descent, and were coming in faster than Percy had planned. Suddenly he heard "Now!" and he kicked off the boat just as its edge blasted upward from hitting the wall, sending them flying over the gate.

"Uh-oh!" Percy cried, seeing a new friend named asphalt coming to meet him. "Mayday! Mayday!"

He closed his eyes, and braced for the impact, but it didn't come, at least, not as soon. And not as hard as Percy expected…something he could say for many things.

Once they actually _did_ land, Percy saw that Grover had caught them and slowed their descent. "You…saved our lives…" Percy said, out of breath form the near-death experience.

Grover smiled sheepishly. "What else are friends for?" he offered. "But, uh…you _do_ have shield, right?"

Percy looked to Annabeth, who had it last. "You do, right?" he guessed.

"What? I thought you took it."

"Annabeth," Percy wasn't in the mood for messing around. "Don't mess with us."

"Look, Seaweed Brain; I was surrounded on all sides by a horde of mechanical spiders. What were you doing?"

"Uh, the _exact_ _same thing_!" Percy claimed.

"So…we don't have the shield."

Percy turned to Grover, who sighed, and then to Annabeth, who looked away petulantly. Percy clenched his fists. "Son of a bi-"

xxxXXXxxx

After the _second_ ride through the Tunnel of Love, of which Percy had to go _alone_ to search underwater, the three returned to the entrance of Waterland, and exited it. "Remind me to never trust you with important things again," Percy told Annabeth bitterly.

She waved it off, sagging her shoulders. "Buzz off. I just want a shower…"

Grover seemed a little more hopeful, but that might've been because they were leaving the rust and machinery, and returning to a bit more natural places. "I'd settle for a decent, not-rusted tin can, actually."

 **Author's Note:**

 **So I'll admit, starting with this chapter, I've been struggling a bit to write them. I'll still try to get them out everyday, at least until I finish book 1, but after that, I'd like to wait a while and get a nice backlog of chapters so I don't have to go on hiatus in the middle of a book. Sound good?**

 **Anyway, don't forget to review!**


	10. The First Time Italians Helped Demigods

Sure enough, once Percy, Annabeth, and Grover returned to the diner, Ares was waiting, leaning against his Harley. He smirked at their ragged appearances, like he was extremely pleased at how long and frustrating the task had been. Percy tossed the shield to him haphazardly, but the god still caught it with perfect grace, even managing to twirl it around like a pizza as he spoke to them.

"There, we got your pointless shield. Happy?" Percy questioned. "Or do you have some other stupid thing you want us to do?"

"Oh no, I'm done," Ares claimed. He saw the three collectively sigh in relief. "But don't worry; that won't have been the hardest thing to do on your little quest."

"What is?"

" _That_ is something for me to know and for you to find out," he claimed, magically making the shield turn into a bulletproof vest, which he slung over his shoulder. "Anyway, a promise is a promise," Ares gestured across the parking lot, to a big truck that read Kindness International. It was an animal transport thing. Once Ares snapped his fingers, the back door of the truck opened, just enough for three fourteen-year-olds to crawl through. Percy didn't even want to mention that the god never promised anything, and was ready to just sit down. Annabeth, however, scrunched up her nose. "What? Something wrong, girlie?"

Annabeth, for a brief moment, glared at Ares with the same intensity that she did Percy most of the time, but then it went away. "N-nothing, Lord Ares," she claimed. It sounded like it took real effort to force the words out. Even before she finished, she was handed a bag. "T-thank you, Lord Ares."

"Don't mention it," he said, and it sounded like he meant it. "And now no one can say I don't repay kindness," Ares boasted.

"Come on," Percy started walking toward the truck; the other two soon followed him, after bidding the war god a last 'thank you'.

Once inside, the first thing that hit Percy was the smell. Even the Pegasus stables back at camp didn't smell half as bad as these animals did, but that was because they were just in horrible shape. There was a lion with the wrong type of food in its cage, an antelope with a party flag tied to its horn, and a zebra with gum stuck in its hair. Grover was probably the most appalled by the sight.

The three looked at each other. Percy was in any mood but a helpful one. He just felt like sitting down and letting his teammates do the work, but alas, he forced himself to at least aid the animals in their trip. Annabeth cut off the party flag from the antelope's horn. Percy switched the food so everyone could eat.

After all of that, they sat down. Grover conversed with the animals (just go with it) for a while before he took a load off and fell asleep. Annabeth and I exchanged looks, silently deciding whether we needed a watch this time. "…We're already moving," Percy said. "I don't think we need a watch."

"Agreed," she said, turning over. Percy wished he could follow, but no matter how much he tossed and turned, his brain wouldn't shut off for a few hours.

His eyes were droopy, but he was alert. His muscles were relaxed, but not sluggish. Maybe he'd just come to preemptively expect a monster attack wherever they went, and his body wanted itself to be prepared. But the fact was that it wasn't. If he didn't get some rest now, he might not have had another chance to do so on this quest, at least not for another long stretch of time. Despite himself, Percy started humming. At first, it almost blended in with the rumble of the engine. He wasn't exactly sure what he was singing, just that he knew the melody. Riptide sang along too.

"Hey," Annabeth mumbled. "You said you were going to sleep," she complained.

"I couldn't," Percy returned. The girl turned over, confused.

"…You're dog-tired."

"I know."

"And you can't sleep."

"I know," Percy repeated, feeling equally as annoyed. Percy expected her to tell him off or try to ignore him, but she surprised him. Annabeth sat up with him.

"…What were you singing?" she wondered. "I didn't recognize it."

"It's, um…" Percy didn't know.

"' _Zero to Hero' from Disney's Hercules."_

"Oh gods, was _that_ what it was?" Percy grimaced. "Jeez, now I know why I was ashamed to hum it."

"What was it?" Annabeth asked again.

"It was um…'Zero to Hero'," he admitted. She chuckled lightly.

"Well…there could be worse songs, I suppose," Annabeth averted her eyes, like Percy wasn't decent.

" _Yeah, you could've sang 'Let the Bodies Hit the Floor'"_

The two sat in silence for a couple of minutes. Percy noticed several things about Annabeth during that time, not that he was excessively staring. Her curly blond hair, which she usually kept in a ponytail, was left hanging messily down her back. Her clothes still seemed a bit soggy from both sweat, as it was extremely humid in the truck, and from the water park. Her body was still tense, probably from the spiders. Plus, she had formed a bruise from when Percy had hit her when she was invisible, back when they were fighting Medusa. He didn't feel bad in the moment, because she totally snuck up on him, but now, it really looked like it hurt. Not to mention the fall they took at the water park. "…You're hurt," Percy noted, upon seeing her arm. She had gotten several scrapes on it from their jump and fall at Waterland, even with Grover slowing their descent.

She looked at her arm like she'd just noticed. "Oh, right. Forgot…" she muttered, obviously fatigued. "I can fix it later."

"Or," Percy scooted closer. "I could fix it now," he said. "Do we still have some bandages?"

Annabeth didn't answer at first, just looked uncomfortable as Percy moved closer. Percy assumed it was because he was a guy. "…Yeah, I think…" she said, pulling out a few and handing them to him. "…Do you even know how?"

Percy nodded, lifting up her arm. "Luke taught me," he explained. "After he whupped my ass."

Annabeth forced out a smile. "Sounds like him," she said, though her voice sounded defensive; even Percy could tell that. He stopped trying to make small-talk, and just worked.

Upon tying a final knot around the scrapes, Percy spoke. "Hey…what are we?"

The questioned seemed to catch her off-guard. "W-what do you mean?" she hastily wondered.

"I mean…" Percy wasn't sure how to put it. "…I don't know…" he moved a bit away from her, to give her space. "…I thought that we might, you know, become friends, during the quest. It seemed like that was where it was heading, but now…"

"Oh, you aren't implying-" Annabeth was about to say 'romance' but she was interrupted.

"You've been acting really weird, since almost the start of the quest. You don't usually talk to me unless you have to and you get angry a lot, especially at me. It's like you want nothing to do with me," he explained. "Though…to be fair, that's how you acted from the start, but you were never really this distant, just weary…and I _thought_ it was getting better…"

Percy looked at Annabeth expectantly. For the first time in a while, she met his gaze. There was something very…odd, about the way Percy looked in that moment, to Annabeth at least. She couldn't really find the word for it at the time.

"Well…" she knew exactly why she'd been avoiding him, she just didn't want to say it. So, she improvised. "To be fair, you're the one that insulted me first," she tried to smile and laugh it off, get this quest over with and go back to Camp where they didn't have to interact as much. But the _look_ , that Percy was giving her, told her that that wasn't what needed to be said.

The bomb had to be dropped.

Annabeth took a deep breath. "…Back in Jersey, when you fought that Kindly One on the bus…I saw you," she recalled his grinning face, his almost feral presence, and that wild look in his eyes like this is what he got his kicks off of. "You tortured it…"

"I had to get information," Percy defended. "Besides, it'll be reborn."

"It's not that," she returned. "It's that you enjoyed it. You were _smiling_ , Percy. People don't usually smile when they're hurting other things."

"…"

"And then, back when you fought Clarisse, you mocked and berated her after you got the upper hand in the fight. I think that says a lot about you."

"…What does it say?"

"…Well, that you like hurting people, maybe to make them hurt the way that you might have, at some point. I don't know exactly, but it's probably something like that."

"Well…wouldn't you think they deserved it?" Percy questioned. "Clarisse put people down all of the time; she deserved to be put down herself. That Kindly One…I know it hurt you and Grover. That was enough for me to fight back. As for the smiling…" Percy didn't have an answer to that. The truth was, he _did_ enjoy it, in the fact that it gave him a rush of adrenaline. It was the same rush as when he fought someone. He lived for the thrill. "…I don't know. You might be right on that."

"But Percy, it's not about whether they deserved it. We're supposed to be heroes. Heroes don't usually…" Annabeth stopped herself. "Well, heroes don't…"

"What about Hercules?" Percy said. "He murdered his whole family and both of his wives, right?" he said, surprised at himself for remembering.

Annabeth didn't respond, just let Percy talk more.

"I don't know…I'm probably messed up in the head, sure…but the way I see it, if I can do these types of things and be rejected…then maybe someone like you won't have to."

Annabeth took a silent gasp, like she'd just realized something. "You mean…you were doing it, all of those things, so that-"

"Or you might be right," he interrupted her again. "I could just be a total monster."

"Percy…"

The boy took a deep breath. It was strange, but the conversation felt cathartic, in a way, like a weight had been lifted from Percy's chest. "Alright, I think I'm tired now. I'm gonna get some shut-eye," he said, laying down.

Annabeth, however, stayed awake for a little while longer, mulling over what Percy had said. For all she knew, he could've just been talking out his ass to try and get her to feel sorry for him, but somehow she knew that wasn't the case. She recalled the times when she'd been almost afraid of Percy; the incidents with the Kindly One, Clarisse, and from what he'd heard about his battle with the Minotaur, she didn't like it either. Slowly, her view on those events shifted. She felt almost…comforted, knowing that she had someone like him on her side. He would protect her, even if he had to do unsavory things to make it happen. Normally, she'd have been annoyed, feeling like she could handle herself, but these past few days of real monster battle put her in her place. She may have been ready to handle it, but he was there to ensure that she didn't have to all of the time. She looked at his face, and smiled. "I think Luke rubbed off on you," she said, before scooting close to him, and laying down with her back to his.

xxxXXXxxx

Once they'd arrived in Vegas, they immediately set the animals free. It was just the thing to do. Not only did it provide good cover for when they escaped the truck, but it also got the transporters arrested for illegal animal smuggling, so…win-win, right?

Anyway, once they actually entered Vegas, they passed by all sorts of fake monuments, from the pyramids, to the Statue of Liberty. The latter made Percy really homesick, and Annabeth had to drag him away from it or he would have spent days looking at it and thinking of home…well, the part of home that didn't smell like beer and feet.

Eventually, they came to a dead end, right at the entrance of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. "…Why are we here?" Percy questioned.

"Must've taken a wrong turn," Annabeth offered.

"It wouldn't hurt to go inside, though, would it?"

On that line of thinking, the three made the stupidest collective decision of the entire quest.

As soon as they entered, they were met with a bellhop. "Hello!" he greeted, his voice surprisingly flamboyant. "And how are we tonight?" he asked as he reached into his pocket.

"Um, fine," Percy replied before he was suddenly handed keys and three green cards. "What are-"

"Oh don't worry about it; try room 4001 on the top floor," he said before leaving the three kids.

Once they made it into the hotel proper, they found it to be incredible. Water slides lined the massive interior lobby, surrounded on all sides by games of all assortments, from Pac-Man to those shooter arcade machines. There was bungee-jumping from higher floors, mini-golf, pools, whatever you wanted. If you could name a thing to do, Lotus Hotel and Casino had it.

And then, once they all started doing things, they didn't stop. Grover went to the dance floor, and busted out some epic moves. Eventually, he lost his pants, and no one even batted an eye at his goat legs. Annabeth went to some of the games, including one where she got to build an entire city. That was her favorite. Percy, meanwhile, spent a lot of his time at the shooting games. Despite how bad he was at them, he enjoyed the frantic exhilaration he got as he improved and got into harder parts of them.

Eventually, all three went up to their room, which turned out to be a gigantic three-bedroom suite, loaded with food, drinks, and toiletries. All three took a shower, which refreshed them immensely, were all tempted to go nap, but then they wanted to play some more.

Annabeth returned to the game she was playing about building a city. Grover went to a shooting game where animals got to shoot humans back, which he found grotesquely satisfying, while Percy decided to wander through the rest of the hotel.

As he rounded a corner, he ran into someone, with both of them falling over. "Hey! Watch where you're going!" Percy snapped as he stood. He then saw that it was a girl, and one who looked his age. "Oh, um…sorry," he offered his hand to help her up.

"No, I'm sorry," she said quietly. She had a strange way of speaking, like she was still living in the 40s or something. Percy couldn't see her face very well, due to her big green hat, but he saw they she had a darker skin color, like maybe an Italian's. Olive would probably be the best word to describe it. Her hair was dark, and hung sloppily over her face; she clearly didn't care. "I wasn't paying attention."

"Oh, um…in a hurry?"

"Actually, yes, I'm looking for my brother."

Percy nodded, not really caring. He was about to let the girl run off, but something compelled him to say "Do you want some help?" To this day, he had no idea why he said that.

The girl probably smiled. "Sure, if you could spare the time."

"Sure, it's not like I'm in a hurry," Percy replied, having completely forgotten about the quest at this point. "I'm Percy Jackson."

"Bianca," she returned. "Bianca di Angelo. We're looking for my little brother Nico."

"Oh, sure, um…" Percy had to get his bearings. "Is he with your parents? How old is he? How old are you?" that last question just kind of blurted out.

"I'm fifteen," she answered, not thinking anything of it. "Nico is thirteen."

"Oh, wow, you're, uh…older than me. I'm fourteen," Percy said.

"That's alright," she said, her voice sounding incredibly genuine. "He said he was going to the water slide, but he always gets distracted."

The two searched for maybe half an hour before Percy himself got distracted. Maybe it was when Bianca started talking about the world, and how money was always a problem until they came to the Lotus Hotel. Percy asked her what year it was. She just looked at him weird. "It's 1942," she answered. "Oh, look! There he is!" she pointed to a smaller boy. His back was turned to them, so Percy didn't know how she knew it was him. "Nico!" she ran to him, leaving Percy behind without even thanking him.

He didn't really want to be thanked anyway. His head was starting to spin. 1942? How was that possible? Come to think of it, Percy didn't really recall how long they'd been at the Lotus Hotel. A few hours? That sounded right, but it felt like just a few minutes. And with a world of gods and monsters…Percy couldn't be sure of anything.

He quickly found Annabeth at the game she'd spent the whole time at. "Hey, how long have we been here?" he asked her. She didn't answer. "Hey!"

"What?" she sounded irritated again.

"How long have we been here?" he repeated.

"I don't know, a couple hours? Who cares?" she questioned, returning to her game. Percy tried to pull her away.

"Hey, we need to go."

"What? Why? I was _just_ getting started; I haven't even installed a proper subway-"

"Annabeth, that game, this place, is tricking you," Percy said, slowly, making sure she was looking at him. Her eyes, which were usually sharp, if not bored, were foggy and glazed over. However, Percy's words seemed to help a bit in clearing them up.

"I-I…" she tried to think things through. "…What were we doing here?"

Percy tried to think. "We came…to kill time? I don't remember. I think…we were doing something important…" they both realized it at the same time.

"The quest!" they exclaimed, dashing off together to find Grover and get out of there. Percy wanted to find Bianca and her brother, but they were long gone and they were on a serious time crunch now, so he didn't have time. That decision would come to haunt him over the years, especially after he found out who they were. Once they found Grover, and forced him out of his game, they burst out of the hotel. The air felt different, and the time of day was totally wrong. Percy found the nearest newspaper and checked the date.

June 20th, one day before the summer solstice.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Dun-dun-duuuun! Yeah, I always felt that if Riordan had planned for Bianca and Nico to have been in the Casino, he would've have them meet the gang back at this point. It wasn't much, but it was better than Percy finding out from a random guy at a random game, right?**

 **Anyway, I finished adapting The Lightning Thief, so now I have to move onto Sea of Monsters. If any of you were disappointed at the differences between this and the originals, don't worry, Sea of Monsters picks it up a bit more, so stay tuned.**

 **Oh yeah, and review the rest of the Lightning Thief while you're at it! Thanks!**


	11. When One Can't Whack It

The three hitched a ride from Vegas to LA by taxi using their Lotus green cards. Once they got there, Percy was surprised at how open the whole city was. See, in New York, everything was laid out in such a way that if you were smart, you wouldn't get lost. LA was one of those cities that just made absolutely no sense.

Still, they made it to the ocean fairly quickly. Once they made it to Santa Monica, Percy waded into the water until it was up to his knees, and then waited. They stood there for five minutes, and nothing happened. "Do you think we're at the wrong beach?" Grover asked from the shore. He and Annabeth were sitting on their backpacks, with the sand being too hot to sit on by itself. Maybe a Hephaestus kid could handle it, but they couldn't.

"No," Percy returned. "That bitchy water spirit definitely said Santa Monica. We're at-"

" _Did you call me bitchy?!"_ a voice called out to Percy, and suddenly he was dragged under the surface. It took the air right out of his lungs, though he was able to replace it with water…somehow. It was just like when he and Annabeth fell into the Mississippi.

He stared up to the surface while lying down on the seafloor, seeing the image of the girl he saw in the water reflecting off of the surface. It was like Percy was looking at his own reflection underwater and if his reflection was a serene water spirit…so yeah.

"Oh gods, it's you again…" Percy complained.

" _You know, I_ could _just not give you your gift, and leave you to fend for yourself."_

"What's stopping you?" Percy questioned. "Who even sent you?"

" _What? You don't think I could act on my own? Because I can't."_

"Then why are you arguing?" Percy questioned.

" _Whatever. I just came to give you these anyway,"_ the water spirit said, handing Percy three pearls. " _They make the impossible possible…in some cases."_

"Hey, that sounds vague enough that it might be useful," Percy mocked.

The sea spirit looked agitated by the demigod's questioning…he wondered why. " _Just…smash them when you want to leave the Underworld, idiot,"_ it said before disappearing.

Once Percy returned to the surface, he explained what had happened to his friends. "Wow…sounds like a total bitch," Annabeth claimed, to which a sprout of water came up and splashed her in the face. "Hey!"

"What?" Percy questioned. "I didn't do it."

"You act like an Aphrodite kid!" she yelled at the ocean, probably getting a few weird looks from anyone who could hear.

A fair few amount of times while on the way to DOA Recording Studios, the supposed entrance to the Underworld, they ran into a bunch of snobby rich kids. They ran into a few groups, but they all reminded Percy of the kids back at Yancy; rich assholes playing at being the bad boys. Well, Percy, in many ways, _was_ one of the bad boys, so he was able to scare most of them off with a threat or two.

Then, a bigger group came; it seemed they were all part of the same gang. "Why don't you go buy some people who _actually_ look like they could touch me," Percy tried to ward them off, but then more and more came. "Stay back, I'm warning you," he said, pulling out his mighty pen.

"What are you? A poet?" someone asked mockingly. Percy clicked the pen, which grew into Riptide. He didn't know what it looked like to them, but it at least scared them away for a few seconds. He didn't try to swing it at them; they were all mortal, meaning that the Celestial Bronze would go right through them. Instead, the three took the boys' weariness and used it to escape, running down the streets of LA.

"There!" Annabeth called. They turned a corner and then ducked into a random shop. Percy later cursed Annabeth for choosing _this_ shop above all others.

Once the boys had passed them by, the demigods looked at the surroundings they found themselves in. It was a water bed shop, as if water beds were still a thing. "Come on," Percy gestured toward the door.

"Oh, but wait!" a voice called form the back of the store, and out popped the single ugliest person Percy had met…up to that point. He was kinda…crusty. "Welcome to Crusty's Water Bed Palace!"

" _How ironic,"_ Riptide commented.

"Would you like to try a few out?" he motioned toward some of them. The three exchanged glances.

"Um…we don't really have-" Annabeth started.

"Oh, but it will only take a minute," he said, dragging them further into the store. "Let's see, maybe we could find one that fits…" he said, looking Grover, Percy, and Annabeth up and down. "How about this?"

He got Grover to try one, and he immediately fell in love. Percy almost wished that he could've bought it for the guy as a present or something. Sadly, they were all broke. Anyway, then Crusty managed to get even the weary Annabeth to try one out, and she had much the same reaction. He was even about to get Percy to try one.

" _Wait,"_ Riptide warned. " _Don't trust him."_

"Was that…advice?" Percy asked the sword. "That's not normal."

"Did you say something, Mr. Jackson?"

" _He knows your name already. You know what that means,"_ Riptide continued.

Percy lowered his eyes, trying to look threatening. Crusty just looked amused. He raised his hand swiftly, making Percy flinch and reach for Riptide. Then, he snapped his fingers. "Ergo!" he called, and ropes shot out from either side of the beds that Percy's two friends were laying on, lashing them to the beds. Then, two more sets of ropes shot from the top and bottom of the beds and tied around them. Then the second set of ropes started pulling. "Oh, it's too bad. I couldn't find beds that fit you, but perhaps I can make you fit the beds, instead. Just a couple of inches."

"That'll crush our spines!" Annabeth cried.

"You don't know that," he returned defensively.

Percy reached for his sword and drew it, but didn't have Riptide transform yet. " _Oh yeah, good luck fighting that guy when he's got your friends."_

The sad part was that Percy's sword was right. He had no chance of protecting them and fighting Crusty, who he suspected was a monster.

" _Well, then what do I do?"_ Percy questioned. He wasn't used to a situation he couldn't fight.

" _Try talking to him."_

" _I'm not good at that,"_ Percy claimed.

" _Listen, just…agree with everything he says. Try and trick him to get into one of his beds, and then nab him."_

"Nab…?" Percy muttered, getting a mental slap in the form of a pressure behind his eye from making fun of his sword. "So, Crusty, was it…how long until they're done?" he asked.

"Oh, just a couple of minutes. Don't worry, you won't be _too_ far behind him."

"Oh, well, uh…we wouldn't really want that, would we?"

"Oh, of course not. You might only need two inches as well, so you'll probably survive."

"So you admit that we're gonna die!" Annabeth must've felt really accomplished.

"Ignore her," Percy said hastily. "I always do."

"You prick!" she snapped.

"A-anyway, I was, um…" Percy tried to think of something.

" _Ask him if he fits on these beds."_

"I was wondering whether or not these beds fit for you, actually."

"Of course not. For someone of my size, you'd have to use the compressor. It's a much faster process."

"Really? Can you show me?"

"Why, of course," Crusty said as he moved toward a bed and sat down. "You know, it's so rare to find a customer who actually enjoys the art of-"

As soon as he was lying across the water bed, Percy snapped his fingers. "Ergo!" he called, making ropes strap Crusty down. In a flash, Percy activated Riptide and slashed Crusty's arms off, so he couldn't wriggle himself free, and then his legs. "Well," Percy gave him a wicked grin. "I think we still need a bit off the top."

"W-wait!" the monster's voice sound frantic. "Wait, wait, wait! We can make a deal, right, Cruel Spider? I can help you!"

"Doubt it," Percy said. "And you really should've gotten me first. I'm kinda the only one here with a decent weapon. Any last words?"

"I will-"

"That'll do," Percy said, stabbing the blade into Crusty's throat and watching him disintegrate.

" _Oh, I'm sorry did I break your concentration?"_

Percy sighed. "And we're back to movie references…great…" With him taken care of, at least for now, Percy cut his friends free. He smirked at Annabeth. "Hey, you might actually be as tall as me now," he said, gesturing to measure their heights. The daughter of Athena swatted his hand away from her head. "Hey, if it's the thing about ignoring you, I was only kidding," he said. He was going to say more, but then she punched his chest and held her fist there. She kept her head down.

"…thank you…" Annabeth said quietly, fighting the urge to take it back quickly. "For, um… those other times too…" she walked away, leaving Grover to look confused. Percy just stared after her as she walked out and waited for them, dumbfounded.

"…Keep it up, man," the satyr nudged him. "Haven't seen those barriers break since Luke!"

"Uh-huh…" Percy didn't know what to say. When they exited, Annabeth was back to her normal self. He didn't dare ask about it, for fear of making her mad.

"Alright, what was the address?" she questioned. Percy dug it out of her backpack, and started toward the Underworld in earnest.

Then suddenly, it dawned on them. They all stopped in unison when they arrived at the entrance to DOA Recording Studios. "What the _hell_ are we doing?" they all asked at once.

"What are we going to say?" Annabeth wondered.

"How do we know Hades has the bolt?" Grover added.

"And how do we get him to give it to us if he does?" Percy finished.

The three exchanged looks. They'd been so preoccupied with actually getting here that they hadn't even been able to think about what they were really doing. They were going directly into the presence of one of the Big Three and just saying "give us the Master Bolt" as if he would be intimidated.

"Too late now," Annabeth was the first to speak after their realization. "Today is the last day, remember?"

"Well," Percy said, shrugging. "On the bright side, our souls won't have to travel far once we die, right?"

"…I never even got a girlfriend," Grover lamented.

Reluctantly, they entered the studio.

 **Author's Note:**

 **I'll admit; this was my least favorite chapter to write out of the all of the first book. I would've cut the whole Crusty thing out, but I felt it would get some decent jokes and add to the relationship between Percy and Riptide, so I kept it in.**

 **Anyway, thanks so much for reading, and don't forget to review!**


	12. This Has To Be Some Kind Of Cruel Joke

Percy wasn't sure what he was expecting from the entrance to the Underworld, but he certainly didn't expect a boring-ass waiting room, like you'd find in a hospital or something like that. The only difference was that the waiters here were the dead, waiting to be taken to the Underworld by the fine gentleman at the huge desk.

"Hey there!" Percy greeted, trying to sound a bit cheery.

The man looked at him, unimpressed. He wore a really tacky suit that matched his hair and sunglasses that literally blocked everything; Percy could only see his own reflection. "…So how'd you three die?" his voice was bland, monotone. He'd clearly been here for a few hours or…eons…

Percy looked to Annabeth, realizing they hadn't come up with anything. "We, um…drowned," he said. "In a bathtub."

"A pool," Annabeth corrected.

The man looked at them, trying to decide whether he should believe them or not. "…fine. My name is Charon. I'll be your ferryman for today. Do you have payment?"

"Oh, um…" Percy reached into his pocket. "Let's see, I have…one, two…thirty-five cents, a thing of Silly Putty, um…Grover probably has a tin can, right?"

" _He means drachmas,"_ Riptide explained as Annabeth stepped forward and offered three.

"There, can we cross?"

The man looked down. "You're not dead, are you?"

"…"

"That's breaking the rules, mortals," the man, for a moment, got a lot taller, looming over the demigods.

" _Screw the rules! We have money!"_

Then, he shrunk back down again, as if he'd never grown or looked intimidating. "…whatever, it doesn't really matter to me. I don't get paid enough to filter through everyone who dies," he said as he stood. "Follow me."

What they saw, following that line, Percy would imagine seeing in a drug trip of some kind. Weird shapes flitted across his vision. People's skin melted off before him, leaving only skeletons. The trip was absolutely terrifying, and then it ended at the worst place known to mankind; a toll booth!

" _Curses! The one place that interrupts the flow of a highway!"_

The booth had three ways to go through, the EZ way, to the Garden of Asphodel, and then through two other ways. "I vote the easy way," Percy said, pointing to it.

"That's exactly what Hades would expect," Annabeth claimed. "We should try our hand at-"

"Sorry," Grover interrupted. "But being judged without actually being dead doesn't exactly sound like the best plan, you feel me?"

" _No, I won't feel you."_

"Shut up, Riptide," Percy said. "Anyway, what's this about judging?"

" _To quote a game: the dead need guidance."_

"The souls of the dead are judged by someone when they go through those gates," Annabeth explained, pointing to the two gateways other than the EZ one. "In myth it was by King Minos, but now, it could be Steve Jobs or…Michael Clarke Duncan, or-"

"Or maybe it was John Dye," Percy offered, chuckling a little. His partners just gave him strange looks.

"…Who?"

"Some…actor who my mom liked," Percy claimed. "I just thought it fit, since, you know…dye…whatever; you two have no sense of humor."

" _I get it."_

"Shut up, Riptide," Percy repeated. "Anyway, let's just get a move on," he said as he walked toward the EZ gate. "I don't really wanna be- oof!" Percy ran into something. "What the hell?" he felt it, finding it to be similar to a dog. "I'm petting Cerberus, aren't I?" Annabeth and Grover nodded slowly, backing away. Percy did the same, soon seeing three massive Rottweiler heads bearing down over him. It barked in his face, covering him with slobber. "Ew…" he complained. "Why don't you be a little more civil?" he demanded of it.

"Um, Percy…he said," Grover started. "That we should pray to whatever god we want…"

"He's gonna eat us?" Percy questioned, not really finding it to be surprising. "But we're in the Underworld, right? Where would we go?"

"Oh, Cerberus can eat souls too. We would just be his lunch," Annabeth claimed, backing away more. The two had left Percy by himself on this one.

"Okay…"

" _Try petting him more. He didn't eat you when you did,"_ Riptide offered. Compared to the big blank that Percy was drawing up at that point, it wasn't a bad idea.

"Here boy…" he said, reaching up. When he stood on his tip-toes, he just barely reached the dog's stomach. Still, he managed to be able to scratch a little. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cerberus' tail wagging slightly. "Oh, you like that?"

"He's insane," Annabeth said in disbelief, even seeing a smile form on Percy's lips.

"You just figured that out?" Grover said in return.

"Hey guys, come on, be friendly!" Cerberus knelt down and allowed the son of Poseidon to scratch under his chins, with the heads fighting over who would be scratched. Slowly, Annabeth and Grover slipped past them. Percy also got around to the dog's backside, and then stopped scratching. Cerberus looked back at him longingly. "Oh, Hades doesn't pet you enough, does he?" Cerberus whined in response. "I'll put in a word to him. I promise, and I'll come back when I can."

With that, Percy and the other two made it past the gates of the Underworld, leaving the meeting with Hades ahead.

xxxXXXxxx

On their way to Hades palace, however, the demigods had yet another unforeseen distraction. This time, Grover's shoes started acting up.

The palace was in sight, and Percy could feel Hades' presence waiting for them, when Grover fell over. "Come on, man," Percy said, helping him up.

"Sorry, Perce. Don't know what-" he didn't get to finish, as he fell down again. "What the…?" Suddenly, Grover was dragged feet-first away from Percy and Annabeth. The two immediately raced after him. "Maia! Maia, damn it!" he cried as the shoes dragged him down a slope.

"What's going on?" Annabeth questioned. "Is it the shoes?"

"Hell if I know," Percy returned, both of them sliding down after Grover. "Hey! Try and untie them!"

"Been trying that, man!" Grover yelled back.

Finally, about fifteen feet from a drop-off into an endless chasm, they caught Grover, mostly due to the fact that one of the shoes fell off. They got the other one off, and started back up to Hades' palace, when they felt…something. All three of them felt it, but none of them knew what it was. In any case, they knew it was bad news; they dashed back up the slope. The thing seemed to be speaking, but Percy couldn't understand it; he only knew that it wasn't speaking English or Greek. The primordial-sounding voice kept getting louder and louder, until a massive vortex of wind threatened to pull them back and into the chasm. About a second earlier, and they all would've fallen in.

The three took several deep breaths once they reached the top, all feeling absolutely done with this whole questing thing. "What was that?" Percy finally asked.

"I don't know, Perce. The shoes, they just…"

"They probably got sucked in by whatever was down there," Annabeth offered.

"But why just the shoes?"

"Maybe because they're godly? They're Hermes' shoes, remember?"

"Right…" Percy just kind of accepted the explanation, and then faced Hades' obsidian palace. Percy grabbed the three pearls, and handed one to Annabeth and Grover. Then, the three entered.

xxxXXXxxx

Hades: Lord of the Dead, Ruler of the Underworld, one of the Big Three Greek Gods. Percy was actually expecting something different, something more along the lines of Ares, but this guy was huge! At least twelve feet tall, sitting on a giant black throne made of charred and seared-together human remains. He glared down at the Half-Bloods with such contempt, such malice that Percy wanted to just kneel down and beg for death right there. He refrained, thankfully.

"Hades," Percy said, immediately getting a kick in the butt from Annabeth. He knew what he did wrong, and was thankful that the god didn't vaporize him. "Lord Hades," he bowed his head.

"…You come barging into my domain, you make it through my domain because of my mercifulness, and you don't even address me properly?"

"Lord Hades," Annabeth stepped forward. "It is an honor to be in your presence. Allow me to say that on my rude friend's behalf. I'm afraid he has no tact."

"Agreed, daughter of Athena. However, that doesn't excuse it. You three had better give me a good reason for you being here, or so help me I shall send you to the worst area of the Fields of Punishment."

" _What does it entail?"_ Riptide asked jokingly.

"It entails your worst fears amplified by an infinite amount for all eternity," Hades answered. Percy raised his eyebrows.

"You can hear Riptide?"

" _Well, he's a god, so yeah,"_ the sword said it as if it were obvious.

"Perce," Grover said behind him. "Get on with it."

"R-right," Percy had almost forgotten. "Lord Hades, you know who I am?"

"Not really," he admitted.

"What? I'm…I'm Percy Jackson. Your lackeys called me a Cruel Spider," he offered, but the god looked unimpressed. "The son of Poseidon?" this one got the god interested.

"Are you?" he wondered. "So, my brother has broken the pact as well…but wait…you aren't claimed? Ha! It's a wonder you can even move a puddle, then! Perhaps in a different life, you could've been a halfway decent hero."

"Wait? You didn't know?"

"Should I have?"

"B-but…why'd you send your monsters after me?!" Percy demanded. Hades shot him a warning glance not to raise his voice at him. Percy quickly got the message. "Sir…"

"I sent them after you because you were the most likely culprit for the theft of Zeus' Master Bolt. You're a demigod, you were in New York. If I recall, you were actually in the Empire State Building on the day the bolt was stolen. Plus, you weren't under our supervision like the ones that came from your camp on a vacation."

"I was?" Percy didn't even remember. "So…you've been watching me for…no reason?"

"Well," Hades shrugged. "In hindsight, it's clear that you don't have the Master Bolt, but it is always a pleasure to see you heroes on your quest stumble and fall at the last moment. It's like what happened a few years back with that boy who tried to be Hercules. Ha!" the god burst into laughter at the thought. Annabeth clenched her fists, barely being able to contain her anger at the god's offhand comment.

"But wait, does that mean you don't have the Master Bolt?" Percy questioned.

"Boy, if I had the Bolt, why would I have tried to hunt you down for it these past ten days?"

"And what about your Helm of Darkness?"

"It's right there," Hades gestured to a coat rack, where it was hanging lazily. Percy shot a glare at Grover, who instilled the idea that Hades wanted to trade into Percy's head.

"In my defense, I never said anything was definite," he claimed.

"Well, I…I…" Percy was at a complete loss for words.

" _Alright let me try to sum things up,"_ Riptide offered. " _You're in the presence of Hades, Lord of the Dead, with no bargaining chip, no idea where the Master Bolt is, who stole it, and you have probably less than an hour before the summer solstice."_

"Yes, that about does it," Hades affirmed.

" _You, sir, are royally fucked."_

"Indeed," Hades held out his hand. "Any last words, Spider?"

"Uh, uh…" Percy looked around for something. "Smash the pearls!" he cried frantically, slamming his into the ground and grinding it up with his foot. His friends did the same.

Soon, they were shooting out of the Underworld at a million miles an hour in three bubbles…it was an epic getaway, as one would imagine.

xxxXXXxxx

The next time Percy was aware of his surroundings, he, Grover, and Annabeth had been discarded back onto the Santa Monica beach. LA seemed to be more or less fine, despite the gods of Olympus being on the brink of war.

"Percy, look out!" he heard, instinctually rolling out of the way of…something. It turned out to be a boar, a giant one. Percy quickly uncapped Riptide as it charged, side-stepped, and then slashed it across its side. It went careening into the ocean, and didn't get back up.

Percy heard clapping. "Alright, godling…fight, fight, fight…"

"Ares," he acknowledged the god that watched them from his bike. He walked toward them. "Look, I'm _really_ not in the mood for this right now."

"Oh, I know," he said. "But I'm in exactly the right mood for this," he tossed Percy a bag, similar to the one he'd given Annabeth, only this one felt a _lot_ heavier. "Go ahead, look at what's inside."

Reluctantly, the son of Poseidon peered into the pack, and saw… "That's…the Master Bolt…" he couldn't believe it. "That means…you stole it?"

"Why does this keep getting more confusing?" Grover complained, holding his head.

"Well, no. I didn't steal it; gods can't steal from other gods directly and all that. However, a certain hero did…as for who…"

"Tell me!" Percy snapped. "I'm not in the mood for games!"

"Oh but I am," he said. Suddenly, the pack was no longer with Percy, but back with Ares. He tossed it back to his bike. "How about a little wager."

"If it involves kicking your ass, I'm game anytime," Percy growled.

"Perce," Grover warned.

"How about this?" Ares said. "We're going to fight. If you win, you get to keep the pack and I'll send you back to New York. But _when_ I win," he eyed the three demigods. "I'll kill you in the most painful way possible."

"Fine by me. Guys?" Percy asked for approval.

"This is the stupidest thing you could do, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth complained. "But do it."

"What? You're agreeing with him?" Grover questioned, but he was already outvoted. "Fine, sure."

"Good."

"Maybe I'll be reincarnated as a nice flower or something…" Grover lamented.

" _You know, it's in situations like these that I'm glad that I don't die when you do,"_ Riptide said.

" _Thanks for the vote of confidence. What if he breaks you?"_ Percy wondered.

" _Please, I'm as durable as the Master Bolt; Celestial Bronze is Celestial Bronze, after all."_

" _The Master Bolt is made of Celestial Bronze?"_

" _Well, yeah,"_ Riptide said it as if it were obvious.

Ares held out his hand, and suddenly, a massive two-handed sword appeared in his hands. Percy readied Riptide. He knew he'd have to be in top form to win against this guy.

The first exchange lasted less than a minute.

What happened was Percy charged first, trying to feint and catch the god by surprise, but he quickly deflected the blow and then slammed down his own sword, making the sand where Percy was just a moment before billow up into a cloud. The raw power was incredible, but Percy knew he couldn't back down. Power alone wasn't all that there was to a fight.

Percy tried again, with the two getting into a pathetic exchange; Ares was toying with the demigod, and quickly clawed a gash into Percy's arm and side. Percy stumbled back, only to have Ares follow up. Percy swung frantically, and Ares parried the strike, getting a cut tracing from his cheek to above his eye.

Percy tried to get away from the assault, but Ares kept pushing. He used his own feint. Percy, in his fatigued state, didn't see it coming. Ares went for Percy's legs, making him kneel, before kicking him away.

Percy rolled on the sand for a couple of seconds before stopping, face-down. He was just barely still holding onto Riptide, but it felt like it weighed a million pounds. Percy didn't even want to get back up. He lifted his hand up, barely, and reached for the ocean. " _Please…father…help…"_ he begged. The ocean didn't respond, as if mocking him. Then he felt the tug in his gut. It wasn't his father's will that the ocean bent toward the demigod. " _I'm alone again…"_ he noted. " _But this time…I am strong."_

The water slid onto Percy's body. It started at his feet, healing the gashes on his legs. Percy put his arms underneath him, feeling strength return to them. "What? How are you doing that?" Ares demanded, being unaware of Percy's lineage.

"You have no idea what I've been through on this quest," Percy claimed, the water making its way up to his torso, healing the gash on his side. "Traps, monsters, godly distractions, lies, hell, and now this. Fine, I see how it is," he glared at Ares as the water healed his arms. "So come on," he put his chin up, and the water slid up his face and into his hair, making it clump and stand on end a bit. "Let's see how far I've come."

Ares readied his sword. "So, Poseidon broke the pact too, huh? But he didn't claim you; you don't have his blessing. You shouldn't have that level of control over the ocean," he didn't sound all too surprised, but the mockery in his voice was gone. Instead, it was a strange sort of…respect. It insulted Percy.

The demigod charged again, this time with the water at his back giving him strength. Ares' block was easier to read now, and Percy was actually able to knock the god off-balance, using a trick that Luke taught him. Now _that_ made the god of war angry.

His strikes became faster, but so had Percy's own. The two were matched blow for blow…for a while.

Percy managed to push Ares nearer to the water, allowing him to disorient Ares using it, nailing him in the face with a concentrated blast. He swung around blindly for a few precious seconds with the water in his eyes where Percy kept it, allowing the demigod to get in close; exactly where he wanted to be. Ares' big heavy weapon was at a disadvantage at close-range. Percy kept up the heat, and actually parried a full-force blow from Ares, where without the water's power he would've broken his arms trying to block it. Percy parried the strike, and then in one swift, deadly motion, he raked his blade across the god's abdomen, making ichor (the blood of the gods) gush out onto Percy.

The demigod backed up, knowing that the battle was far from over, but he didn't expect just how mad that it would make Ares. His wound closed quickly, at least to where he could fight, and he attacked ferociously. Gone was any form of tactics in his fighting; he was only out to completely destroy Percy Jackson, to slice him into tiny bits.

However, just as fast as Ares was gaining the upper hand, Percy was able to keep up using his water healing. Still, Ares ultimately knocked Percy to the ground. Even with the water, Percy was panting. His arms were sore, his head was pounding, and it was about to hurt a whole lot worse.

"Give up," Ares demanded, his voice sounding…different. Even his cocky smirk was one that irritated Percy less. It was more terrifyingly powerful than dickish, as Ares' was. Ares held his blade to Percy's chest. The son of Poseidon had lost.

Stubborn as ever, Percy refused to give up. He made a blind dash, knocking his blade out of the way just long enough to burst up, managing to actually head-butt the god. Ares stumbled back, dazed. He stepped forward again, ready to strike back and finish the fight, but he hesitated.

Ares shook his head, and then looked around, confused. "Eh? Where am I?" he demanded, like he'd just woken up with a hangover.

"What?" Percy questioned. "What do you mean? Did I hit you _that_ hard?" he wondered, though he was actually suffering from a reeling headache due to the impact he took.

"What? Jackson? I…damn it…bastard…" he mumbled, as if remembering what had happened.

" _Is the bastard you?"_ Riptide wondered. " _Or someone, some_ thing _, else?"_

"Don't tell me…you were being controlled?" Percy mocked.

"I was _not_! I am a _god_!" he roared. "Gods cannot be controlled!"

"Well, do you remember why you're here?"

"What else? We were fighting. I was kicking your ass, if I recall."

"No, I won," Percy thought fast. "You admitted it, and then head-butted me. Sore loser…"

Ares blinked and then stomped his foot into the sand, willing his weapon to leave him. "Ah, damn it. That's right…fine. What'd I promise you?"

"You said-"

"Wait, I remember," suddenly the bag containing Zeus' Master Bolt was in Percy's free hand. "And here," he snapped his fingers, and the three demigods were whisked away.

 **Author's Note:**

 **How's that for an abrupt ending?**

 **Anyway, the next chapter is the last one of my adaptation of The Lightning Thief, so the Author's Note at the end is going to be long, because I want to get you into my head-space a bit. See, when I write basically anything, I put it to music (because I've been playing music for nine years and love it so much). To my mind, writing and music are inseparable. I assign characters with songs, I assign songs to different sections of the stories or books I write, and this is no exception. Next time, I'm gonna tell you guys what I'd consider to be, for lack of a better term, theme song for my adaptation of The Lightning Thief.**

 **See ya then! and don't forget to review!**


	13. Dumb Luck and a Liar Revealed

Instantly, Percy was in front of the Empire State Building, along with Grover and Annabeth. Both couldn't stop looking at Percy. "What?" he wondered. "Is there something on my face?"

"…You fought Ares," Annabeth said, dumbfounded. "And didn't die…even a _child_ of Ares couldn't manage that."

"Perce, mortals challenging gods is extremely rare, and it's even rarer for the mortal in question to come out unscathed. It's unheard of for them to come out of it with compensation," Grover gestured to the pack in Percy's hands, carrying the Master Bolt.

Suddenly, it dawned on them why they were here. The three burst into the building, and entered the elevator. Last time Percy was here, apparently on the winter solstice, he only saw buttons up to the 102nd floor, but now, the Mist revealed another: 600. Annabeth quickly pressed it.

The wait was agonizing, given how there was imminent war. When the elevator popped open, Percy burst out, expecting Annabeth and Grover to follow. They didn't. "What are you doing? Come on!" he urged.

"We…shouldn't," Annabeth claimed. "It's your quest," was all she said, though it definitely looked like it pained her to stay in the elevator.

Percy couldn't blame her. When he left them and went up the longest staircase of his life (which sucked, by the way), he entered quite possibly his very idea of heaven. Marble statues of heroes, absolutely gorgeous…everything; buildings, landmarks, women. Though in this case, the women were various assortments of magical beings, so they were eye-candy at most for Percy.

And it was strange; Percy knew instinctually which building to go to. It wasn't anymore extravagant than the other buildings, what he guessed were the gods' residences. He could just feel _his_ presence in this particular structure.

He was met with a room full of thrones, each of different styles and some even looking like scaled-up mortal chairs. Inside, there were two people. One wore a suit and had broad shoulder, and held a mighty beard like you'd see on a Viking, only this one was dotted with thunderstorms. His eyes were a gray, like Annabeth, but they seemed darker like a storm cloud. Percy could tell that that was Zeus. The other looked a lot like Percy; jet black hair, sea green eyes,, kind of slumped shoulders, and a brooding look. Though while Percy just kind of accepted that look, this man looked like he tried to counteract it; there were wrinkles around his eyes showing that he smiled a lot. This was not one of those times.

The two looked down on Percy, and he was inclined to kneel, even more so than with Hades. "Lord Zeus," he addressed the King of the Gods first. "And…father…"

The two looked at each other, before addressing Percy. "Rise, demigod," Zeus ordered. Percy stood, daring to look the sky god in the eye, while making sure to avoid Poseidon's. "I believe you have my brother confused for another god."

" _Chiron told you not to tell Zeus,"_ Riptide reminded him. Zeus probably heard it too, but he showed no signs.

"He may not have claimed me, but…" Percy noticed a pool of water at either side of the doors he entered from. He willed the water to rise and spin in a circle before plopping back down into the pool. "I think my abilities speak for themselves."

Poseidon held neither anger nor disappointment in his eyes. Zeus, however, glared at his brother, lightning crackling around him from his anger. "You bore a child? You broke the oath?"

Poseidon remained calm. "Let us say that I have not claimed him for a reason," he said, continuing to stare directly at Percy. Now _those_ words probably hurt Percy worse than any of the wounds or beatings he'd taken on his quest.

"Fine, we will deal with it later. Now, boy, you will explain why you have entered the domain of the gods," he ordered. Percy jumped a little, remembering why he was here. He slung his backpack in front of him and unzipped it.

"This will…take some explaining, Lord," he said hastily as he took out Zeus' Master Bolt. He carefully set the magical weapon down at the god's feet. Instantly upon Percy letting go of it, it shot up and into Zeus' hand and morphed into an actual lightning bolt. Percy tried not to look, almost like looking alone might vaporize him.

"Then explain."

Percy took a deep breath. "I swear on the River Styx, I am _not_ the one who stole your lightning bolt. I was given the bolt, after, uh…'winning' a duel with Ares."

"Then you claim it was Ares? Impossible; gods cannot-"

"No, Lord, I do not suspect Ares. The way I won the duel was by confusing him. This may be unrelated, but at the end, he didn't seem to remember why he was there or even that the bolt was in this backpack. He only remembered that he bet the bag on the duel. I think he was being controlled and that I just freed him from the control by...hitting him."

The two gods looked at each other, and had a quick conversation in Ancient Greek. Most of the words flew over Percy's head, but he recognized 'father'. Now all he had to do was remember who their father was, or maybe they were talking about Poseidon as Percy's father. He didn't know.

Soon, Zeus turned back to Percy. "We will discuss this at a later time," he claimed, though Percy suspected that that was very unlikely. "Until then, I will leave, to wash the mortal taint from my bolt," he said, before disappearing a blinding flash of light. Percy averted his eyes again.

When the light faded, he was left with Poseidon. Percy had a million different feelings flowing through him right now. He wasn't sure what he was expecting with the god. It certainly didn't help when Poseidon bore into him with his eyes. Percy was about to speak, but then Poseidon did.

"You will not address me as your father," he said. "Because I have not claimed you."

Percy shifted around from one foot to the other. "…yes, Lord," he said quietly.

"I am a pragmatic man, Percy. For this conversation alone, you will not address me as a god either," he said. Percy looked up. "Speak, tell me what happened."

Quickly, Percy summarized his quest. In Poseidon's eyes, he saw neither pride nor disappointment. They were as unreadable as the ocean.

"I see…it's not a bad quest, for one of your age."

"Um…the one you were talking about with Zeus," thunder rumbled. "Lord Zeus," he corrected. "Was it…Kronos?" Percy remembered the name.

"…Yes, it was," was all the god said on the subject.

"Okay, um…do you…know what happened? To my mother?"

"She perished," he said. "You saw that."

"R-right…" Percy tried to not to shed tears, but the reality hit him once again. "…Why didn't you claim me? Why not claim me now?"

Poseidon blinked, as if unprepared for the question. His answer was brutally honest. "I didn't claim you because you don't deserve to be claimed."

"But-"

"You do not deserve my blessing; you're rash and unintelligent with your madness. Now, madness, that wild excitement you feel in battle, is fine when controlled; it's one of the few things I myself control. However, _Cruel Spider_ ," he put poison into the words. "Your madness wasn't controlled, no matter what excuses you make to your fellow demigod. Not only that, but this quest was completed not because of your own merit, but because of dumb luck. More often than not, you either relied on luck or you relied on that child of Athena for guidance. You acted as nothing but a brute with a sword. I have no need for a son like that."

Percy would be lying if he said the words didn't sting. At the moment, though, Percy only felt numb. He continued staring at Poseidon, his eyes jaded. " _Don't deserve to be claimed…"_ Percy chuckled.

"Did I say something amusing?"

"…No, Lord," Percy's voice was low and distant.

"Do you have any further questions?"

"…No, Lord."

"Then you may leave. Return to your camp, and try not to die," he said before disappearing in a manner similar to his brother. Percy stumbled out of Olympus in a stupor. His friends met him in the elevator.

"How'd it go?" Grover asked.

" _You gonna tell them?"_ Riptide asked. Percy was considering it, but then, why did he have the right to ruin the completion of a quest for them? For all they knew, this was their only chance to say they've completed a quest and saved Olympus.

Percy smiled. "Great! I didn't get killed, so that's always a plus," he claimed.

"So, the war is off?"

"Yeah. They said they'll talk about Ares and what happened with him later," Percy explained. Grover's face slowly grew more excited, and then he bear-hugged Percy, laughing like a maniac.

"Perce! This is amazing! I never thought we'd be able to do it, but we did!" he cried. Percy grinned alongside him.

Annabeth didn't ask anything, letting Grover do it. She remained eerily silent as she watched her friend struggle to keep up a façade.

The return to Camp Half-Blood was something out of a dream. Percy, Grover, and Annabeth were hoisted onto the camper's shoulders, had laurel wreaths put on their heads, and carried over to the banquet hall for a feast in their honor. Even Mr. D was forced to give them praise, and Percy had never felt more at home then in that moment…but he felt empty.

Nothing Poseidon had said wasn't true. Percy only succeeded by dumb luck. But he couldn't tell anyone that.

Luke was probably the most congratulatory, even continuing the celebration into the Hermes cabin. Percy felt grateful for it, but every time he thought he could enjoy himself, it all came back around to dumb luck. Dumb luck.

Dumb luck.

That was all it was.

xxxXXXxxx

Through the summer, Percy doubled his efforts to train and grow. His sparring sessions with Luke slowly became even matches, though Percy could tell he was still holding back by a good amount. When he wasn't doing anything else, Percy was by himself in the woods, practicing using his water powers. He needed it to be in top form, as it was his greatest strength by far.

Then, the summer drew to a close. He was given a sheet of paper, basically saying that he needed to tell Chiron whether he was staying year-round or going home. Percy wryly smiled. Home? What home? To Gabe?

"Yeah, right…" Percy crumpled up the paper, and went to the Big House. Chiron was reading at the time, and Mr. D was sipping on Diet Coke.

"You got the letter, I assume," Chiron guessed.

"Yeah, I think you know my answer," Percy said. "I'm staying."

"I figured," Chiron said. "But then you'll miss out on your schooling," he pointed out.

"Oh well. I'd rather have a sword in my hand than a pen."

Chiron chuckled. "Well, in your case, you always have both," he noted. "Then how about this. As you know, I am a certified teacher, correct? I could probably bend the rules for you."

"…You're home-schooling me?"

"Not quite. Just…the essentials, so you can say you graduated, by the time you turn eighteen or so. You could consider it a gift, for a job well-done," he offered. Percy smiled, thankful for having such a great friend. "I'm sure that would make Annabeth happy as well; she wouldn't want you slacking off, now would she?"

Percy's smile faded. "Annabeth…I don't even know if she cares at all about me."

"And why's that?" Chiron didn't seem worried.

"Well, she barely talks to me outside of Greek history lessons. When she does, _I_ always have to start the conversation. And even then, it's like she just wants to get the conversation over as quickly as possible. Jeez, I thought we were friends…"

"Well, you yourself have been putting off a…different kind of feeling lately," Chiron claimed. "Like you don't want to talk. I'd imagine Annabeth picked up on it, and was heeding your silent request."

"What? No, I'm not...am I?"

" _You hadn't noticed?"_

Percy sweat-dropped. "Never thought about it like that…" he admitted.

"Well, you still have a few hours. I don't believe Annabeth has given me notice that she's staying, so you might want to hurry."

With that in mind, Percy exited the Big House and jogged down to the cabins. On his way, however, he was interrupted. He ran into Luke.

"Oh hey!" he greeted, smiley as ever. "Glad I ran into you. I actually wanted to talk," he said.

"I, um-" Percy wanted to say he was already looking for someone, but Luke interrupted.

"It'll only take a minute," he claimed, pulling Percy into the woods. It wasn't uncommon that people talked in the woods for private conversations. The woods were odd, sound carried strangely far and also not at all…Percy wasn't quite sure how to describe it. Percy wondered what Luke wanted to talk about. "So…how'd it go?" he asked.

"How'd what go?"

"Olympus?" Luke asked. "I've been meaning to ask you how your visit went."

Percy hesitated. "It was…fine," he said. "Nothing special, right?" It was a complete lie; if he could, Percy would've stayed in that paradise all his life.

Luke saw through the façade immediately. "Uh-huh. What about the gods? Did any of them claim you?"

"Unless Hermes did without my knowing it, no. I'm still in your cabin, remember?"

Luke chuckled. "Yeah, I just wanted you to say it."

"Why?"

"Because you deserve better," Luke said. "Now, what I'm about to tell you can't leave these woods, alright?"

"…Alright," Percy wasn't sure what it could possibly be. Luke leaned to whisper into Percy's ear.

"I'm the lightning thief."

The words echoed in Percy's ear. What? How could that be possible? "You're…?"

"Yeah, it was so easy, too. Stole the bolt right from Zeus' throne without any of the gods noticing, last winter solstice. I was halfway across Jersey by the time he noticed."

"So…you're the reason I had to go on that quest? Where my life, and Grover's, and Annabeth's were all put in danger?"

"Well, yeah. Consider it a test, Percy. And you passed."

"Passed? What test?"

"See, the gods are just too…full of themselves, you know? They don't really deserve to rule the world, right? You saw that; they were-"

"Arrogant," Percy finished. "Ares especially, and Zeus and Poseidon…they were there when I returned the lightning bolt."

"Right, so you agree with me. Percy, I got this chance. I have got this golden opportunity here, to tear down Olympus, brick-by-brick."

"What? Luke, what are you talking about?" Percy thought it was just another joke, and the rest of the Hermes cabin would jump out as a surprise any second. Unfortunately, it wasn't. "Tearing down Olympus? I mean, the gods can be pricks sometimes, sure, but the world is still safe, right?"

"Percy, they were _just_ about to start a war that would've ravaged the world," Luke reminded.

"Because of something that you did."

"Maybe, but that just goes to show how fragile their rule is, that it can be threatened so easily, by just a simple little theft." Percy stood. Luke followed. "Percy, I want you by my side. Besides me, you're the best fighter at camp. You've got power, you've got talent. From what Annabeth has told me, you have some crazy ideas that work in a pinch. I could _really_ use that. I could-"

They both heard footsteps approach, and sure enough, Annabeth burst into the scene. She didn't look battle-ready. If anything, she looked ready to leave. "Luke? What are you two doing out here?" she wondered.

"Annabeth? We were, uh…just having a conversation," Luke claimed.

Annabeth nodded, and then looked at Percy. "Chiron said you wanted to see me. I don't have much time. My parents are here and waiting for me."

"I…" Percy wasn't sure what to do, so he did the first thing that came to mind. He knew he could never make this decision; Luke was probably the most consistent friend he'd had at Camp Half-Blood. He was a good guy, and Percy agreed that the gods weren't really fit to rule, but everything else he'd been told contradicted that. Chiron had faith in the gods, the other campers, for the most part, held their godly parents in high regard. But what Poseidon said to Percy…that he wasn't deserving of his blessing. It pissed Percy off to no end; why else would he train so hard this summer? He'd worked his ass off trying to prove himself; he's the second-best fighter at camp, he'd been working hard controlling his water powers, not to mention, whether it was luck or not, he completed his quest without any deaths and on time. How was it fair that Percy hadn't been claimed?

"Well?" Annabeth demanded, impatient.

"Luke said that he's the lightning thief," Percy claimed. "He said he wants to tear down Olympus, brick-by-brick. He says he knows how, and that he's been given the opportunity to do it. He asked me if I would go with him, at his side, to do it," Percy explained. The words, as Percy spoke them, seemed to hurt Annabeth more and more. Luke just seemed jaded. "What do you think?"

"What do I…?" Annabeth had no idea how to respond to that, but she had to say something. "What kind of a question is _that_ Percy?!" her voice made it sound like she'd been betrayed. "Going against Olympus is suicide! Of course you have to stay here with Chiron and me and the other campers!" she exclaimed. To whom she was saying it, though, is up for grabs.

Percy turned to Luke. "Well, you heard it."

Luke didn't look mad, just disappointed. "After that stupid quest…I'd have thought you grew up," he said, drawing his sword. It was different than the one he had when Percy met him. It was half-steel, and half-Celestial Bronze. Percy drew Riptide.

"Hey, I don't want to fight you. Just…don't do anything stupid."

Luke stepped back, as if he were preparing for a duel, but instead, he just slashed an arc into the ground, and disappeared in a wave of darkness.

xxxXXXxxx

Annabeth and Percy immediately informed Chiron of what happened; Luke's betrayal, that he was the lightning thief, and that he disappeared. The centaur looked sad, but said to leave him to discuss it with Mr. D.

Annabeth and Percy walked out of the Big House together. Annabeth was silent, and angry. "We'll stay in touch, right?" Percy wondered.

"…Sure," she muttered, walking toward the hill. Percy followed.

"Is your family cool?"

"Don't know," she admitted. "Haven't seen them in seven years."

"Oh, so this is a first?"

"…Yeah."

"What made you change your mind?" Percy asked. Annabeth didn't answer that one. Percy was trying to work up the courage to talk about his own problems, about Poseidon and Olympus, and how he actually really wanted to join Luke back there. But all too soon they reached the top of the hill, where two children, a woman, and a man were waiting as a family. "So…I guess this is goodbye for now, huh?"

"…Yeah…I'll be back next summer," she assured.

"Of course, um…Annabeth?"

"What?"

Percy brought her into a hug. "…I'm glad you're my friend. You helped me so much since I got here."

Annabeth didn't reciprocate the feeling, just the gesture. The two parted, and Annabeth soon disappeared over the hill.

Percy took a deep breath. He had the feeling that he hadn't seen the last of Luke, and if he wasn't bluffing about having his opportunity, Percy knew he'd have to triple his efforts in order to keep up with him.

It was time to train.

 **Author's Note:**

 **There it is, my adaptation of The Lightning Thief. Thank you all for reading and stayed tuned for Sea of Monsters, which will be in this same story so don't worry about that. I will be taking a hiatus on this for four or five days so I can get a stockpile of chapters in case I fall behind midway through the book again, but I will finish; promise.**

 **Anyway, last time I promised I'd tell a particular song that I had in mind. Now, given that I'm basically anime-ifying Percy Jackson, I figured it was only fitting to use anime songs as inspiration (I do that anyway though).**

 **For this particular book, I most listened to _Hyper-Drive_ , the opening to Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's. Now, I don't watch any of the shows or really care about them, but the song itself I think fits fairly well. This first book isn't really heavy on drama or high-octane action, so the most relaxed tone and upbeat vibe of the song really fit in my opinion. For the other songs for the other books, the words said in the songs will matter, but for this particular one, the words aren't that profound or fitting, just the tone so I can't really say anything there.**

 **But that's just my take on it, and fiction (even fanfiction) is meant to be interpreted. Go ahead and tell what song you guys thought really fit this "arc" of the story! I'd love to hear different perspectives!**

 **EDIT: I just thought of something funny, or at least it was amusing to me.**

 **So this would never be one of the songs that I list here for serious purposes, but take the second opening to The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, right? At the part right at the beginning of the chorus, replace of those characters with the Percy Jackson characters appearing in this order: Percy, Grover, Annabeth, Rachel, and Luke.**

 **I don't know, I just have this funny image of Grover running with the rest of them and having to like waddle to keep up, because the books say he has this awkward walk/run thing, right? Whatever. I thought it was funny. It's a decent song if you guys want to check it out, and there's a good English version by Christina Vee too.**


	14. Just Another Day For Percy Jackson

Here's a normal day in the life of Percy Jackson:

The day begins with some random Hermes' kid waking everyone up for breakfast, one of about four who were year-rounders. Percy was never a morning person, or an evening person, or a day or night person either, so as one might expect, he was just a bucket of sunshine every day.

Of course, it didn't exactly help that his day was filled to the brim with activity every single day.

See, ever since Percy's quest last year, and his friend Luke's subsequent betrayal, Percy had been working his ass off trying to prepare. Even that early on, he could tell that big stuff was about to go down…or it could've been the fact that he was a complete pushover in his only real fight on his quest until he stood in a puddle.

Anyway, after breakfast, of which he would absolutely stuff himself, he went off to the stables to practice Pegasus riding with Silena Beauregard, which he was good at, though unfortunately he was never able to properly tame a Pegasus; he had to borrow unused ones and they never liked him, probably because he talked to them. Anyway, once that ended, it was usually around noon.

Percy, at this point, either went to play volleyball with some Apollo kids, which he enjoyed, or worked on the schoolwork that Chiron had given him to do.

Most of it was bookwork, because the centaur was always busy being the Activities Director, and most of it Percy had to get help on. He could usually rely on some of the older kids in the cabin, but if they didn't know it, he went straight to Chiron, who always helped him out.

It was at these times that Percy wished he could have phoned up Annabeth, the daughter of Athena whom Percy had befriended and then subsequently apparently lost as a friend because of…something. Percy couldn't figure it out. They seemed to be a good terms, but Percy knew that she was hiding something from him, just like he was hiding something from her, so there was a disconnect. Not to mention, demigods aren't allowed to use phones; the closest they had was mail. Besides that, he could've Iris-Messaged her, but with the amount of times he needed help, he'd have been broke in a few days, so he refrained as he had other options. Percy could've also used an Instant Messenger, but he didn't have any kind of internet access, so mail it was. Annabeth never responded to the letters he sent. The only time he got a letter from her was just a picture of her on vacation.

" _Thanks, Annabeth, I'm really feeling this great connection between us…"_ he often thought to himself, thinking about her neglect.

Anyways, after that bit of break, Percy usually practiced sword-combat with the camp bully, Clarisse, daughter of Ares. In terms of sword combat, Percy usually beat her, but Clarisse was definitely better with a spear and with every other weapon as well. Percy definitely had a clear edge on her with a one-handed sword, but that was it.

Anyway, it wasn't like the two had any reason not to fight; during Percy's quest, he'd basically gone toe-to-toe with her father. While Percy knew that he didn't beat the god of war, Ares conceded the duel after Percy outsmarted him. Clarisse only thought that Percy won, calling it dumb luck.

Percy made sure to give her a few extra cuts whenever she told him that.

Once the two were satisfied beating the shit out of each other, Percy left to go into the woods on his own. There, he worked by a creek. He practiced controlling his hydrokinesis, or the ability to control water. It was his greatest edge over his opponents, and less than five people even knew about it. Though, Percy wasn't sure how long that was going to last. Chiron had told him not to tell anyone, but the other campers definitely knew something was up.

After he felt satisfied, it was usually dinnertime. They all had a great meal, and then they retreated into the cabins for lights out.

As for other things, sometimes Percy tried to get out of his comfort zone and practice archery, but he sucked royally at it.

This is also the part where Percy wished he could say he also kept in touch with Grover, his satyr friend, who'd gone with him into the Greek equivalent of hell. What a great friend. Unfortunately, after Grover returned, he got a Searcher's License, which gave him permission to go on a search that he likely wouldn't come back from.

From what Percy understood, the god named Pan had disappeared because he was eventually forgotten. The satyrs, and other nature spirits, don't believe that Pan is actually dead, and send searchers out to look for his essence or something like that. Most of how Grover explained it went over Percy's head anyway.

And that just about concludes a day in the life of Percy Jackson…before the monsters attacked.

It came suddenly, on June 6th. It was only a few weeks before the summer campers were to come back and things would get really busy. It also began as a normal day, when an alarm sounded from the Big House.

By the time Percy had arrived, Clarisse had rallied about a dozen other campers, and Chiron was holding off a big…thing, and it wasn't the only thing there. Now, unfortunately for the thing, it was fighting Chiron. Unfortunately for Chiron, he was facing about a half a dozen of these things.

As for the things in question, they were hulking, humanoid creatures. They were at least eight-feet tall and had way too many tattoos on their arms. They were chucking flaming balls of bronze at people, all of whom thankfully had shields.

" _I feel like there's a Dodgeball reference somewhere in here…"_ Riptide said.

Oh right, Riptide, or Anaklusmos; Percy's sword. It talks in his head. Sometimes it gives him useful advice, but most of the time it just spouted references to him because it was bored. Well, that, or make smart-ass comments about Percy's situation. He still had no idea whose soul it was that inhabited the blade; just that it sounded female and was incredibly cultured in the geek-arts…not to be confused with the Greek-arts. "I'm sure it'll come to you," Percy said, getting a read on what was happening and what to do about it. Percy noticed something wrong with the image he was seeing. "Why are there monsters inside the borders?"

The tree that marked the boundary of Camp Half-Blood had a story; it actually housed the soul of a demigod, Thalia Grace, who gave her life to protect the others that had been travelling with her. One of them had been Annabeth, back when she was only seven years old. The other was Luke, a son of Hermes who had betrayed camp last year. No one knew where he was. Grover was also with them, as the person guiding them to Camp Half-Blood. The tree she turned into upon death forged a magical boundary which normally repelled monsters.

Percy didn't have a shield on him, so joining Clarisse wasn't an option. Even if he was there, they weren't exactly faring well. The campers made a phalanx, slowly advancing toward the giants. However, with each dodgeball of metal fire, the defense weakened. "Percy! Look out!" Chiron called, seeing one of them chuck a fireball at the son of Poseidon. Percy rolled out of the way, glancing back to see a flaming crater where he'd been.

Percy's blood was pumping, fast. He'd almost forgotten the thrill he got from a real monster battle. This is what he lived for.

Percy charged forward, rolling out of the way of another fireball before reaching the giant who threw it. Percy dodged a fist shot his way, feeling the force behind it blow up his hair and ripple his shirt. Percy smirked before slashing down into the giant's arm, cutting it clean off.

"Get out of there, idiot!" Clarisse yelled at him, seeing the other giants turn to Percy. They each picked up a fireball and launched them at him. Percy ran like hell, getting away from the giant he'd been fighting, and saw that the fireballs made him explode into dust. Percy hid behind a tree in the confusion.

" _Now very bright, are they?"_

"I got an idea!" Percy exclaimed. It wasn't exactly a good plan, though, to announce his hiding spot, as just a couple of seconds later, the tree where Percy was hiding was a flaming trunk. Percy rendezvoused with Chiron, who was also behind cover and planning their counterattack. "Hey, you don't mind if I reveal my secret, right?"

"What?" he questioned. "Is that important?"

"Well, I have an idea."

" _Is it stupid?"_ Riptide asked.

"Very," Percy answered, probably confusing Chiron. "Anyway, I've got a plan. Can I try it?"

"…Fine, anything at this point is worth trying," he claimed. "At this rate, we'll lose a camper or two…"

"Alright, can I ride you? We need to draw them to the water."

"Fine," he conceded, though he definitely didn't look happy about it. "But only this once."

"Understood, sir," Percy said as the two came into the giants' view. Clarisse and the other campers had actually taken down another giant, but their formation had broken and it didn't look like it would reform anytime soon. "Hey!" Percy called. The giants turned. "You throw worse than a naiad!" he mocked them. That seemed to irk them, at least a little bit, as they started throwing Greek curses at him and following Percy, who hopped onto Chiron's back.

If nothing else, even if the plan didn't work, it allowed Clarisse's squad to regroup and follow them down.

Chiron dropped Percy off at the waterfront, which was located right beside two volleyball nets, one on sand and the other on stone. "What's your plan?" Chiron asked, seeing the giants clambering down the hill.

"Eh," Percy shrugged. "I need to work on my receive," was all he said. Chiron sighed, having given up on changing Percy's attitude towards fighting long ago. "For it to work, I need Clarisse on my side. She has numbers and better weapons than I do," Percy explained.

" _I heard that,"_ Riptide complained, sending a pressure behind Percy's eye, indicating that it was angry.

Percy continued explaining. "I'm going to distract them and make them mad. She's gotta go for the kill with the other campers."

"And you thought all of that up in just a few seconds?" Chiron asked, impressed.

"Not really; I'm just bullshitting," Percy admitted. "At least about Clarisse. See at first I thought I could-"

"Enough. They're coming. I'll circle around, good luck," the centaur said as he left a fifteen-year-old boy to fight four monsters.

The giants drew closer and were all already carrying fireballs in their hands. Percy took a deep breath, as he willed the water toward him. The strength it imbued him with was what allowed him to fight on equal ground with the god of war last year. Since then, his skills have doubled, and his mastery over his powers has tripled at least, as did the intensity of his powers. He was ready to fight.

The first giant chucked its ball at Percy, who flicked his wrist, felt the tug at his gut, and willed the water to move with his hand. Percy formed a giant hand with the water, and made it receive the ball like he was playing volleyball. The once-flaming bronze ricocheted harmlessly into the sand. The giants sent more, but it had the same effect. Percy didn't dare try and send any of the fireballs back, as he might've missed and taken the head off of an approaching camper.

Just as he hoped, Clarisse took advantage of surprise, and had three other Ares kids sneak up behind the giants as they kept throwing fireballs at him, and he kept receiving them, and then, they all stabbed into the monsters' chests simultaneously, without a signal. The Ares kids had that kind of silent coordination in battle. The four remaining monsters burst into dust. The battle had been won.

And that was just the first.

xxxXXXxxx

The first group, Laistrygonian Giants, was only the beginning.

Two weeks passed, and monster attacks on the camp had been getting more frequent. It got so bad that they had to install a border patrol, so that they could prevent buildings from being destroyed in the chaos. Chiron and Mr. D, the camp director, were even contemplating about whether summer campers should even come. This place was meant as a safe haven, and now it wasn't even safe. When confronted about why monsters could suddenly cross through the borders without fear, it turns out that Thalia's tree had had better days. There was a hole in it just big enough for a knife that was oozing green sap. Thalia's tree had been poisoned.

"It _had_ to have been Luke!" Clarisse accused. "Traitorous bastard."

Percy glared at the girl, though not because he didn't agree with her. He just didn't want to agree with her.

Luke had been Percy's first and closest friend when he first arrived at Camp Half-Blood. He was responsible for making Percy into even a halfway decent swordfighter, and he taught Percy so much, on top of being a great friend when the going got rough in Capture-The-Flag games. Then, he even asked Percy to join him in his quest to make Olympus crumble. Percy almost agreed, as he could completely understand and empathize with Luke's feelings toward the gods.

The only thing that had stopped Percy was Annabeth, who basically ordered him to stay. Luke didn't follow that order, and disappeared in a wave of darkness.

Anyway, Percy was about to argue, mostly for the sake of it, but Chiron beat him to it. "Now, we don't know that," he said. "There are many who would, unfortunately, put you demigods in danger."

"But the question is what do we do about it?" Percy claimed. "What can heal Thalia's tree?"

"I'll have to think it over," Chiron said. "For now, you should retu-"

"Monsters!" the border patrol called. Clarisse and Percy stood, along with the counselors that were also there.

"Again?" Charles Beckendorf, the Hephaestus counselor, questioned.

"Clarisse, gather a force!" Percy ordered before he dashed out the door and up the hill. The others there didn't even have time to answer.

"…Does he always have to be the first one out?" Silena questioned.

"It's a wonder he survived his quest," Beckendorf agreed.

Percy pounded up the hill and uncapped Riptide, wondering what monstrosity they'd have to fight this time. However, the first thing he saw of the battle, or actually heard, was a voice. "I, Annabeth Chase, grant you permission to enter!"

Before Percy could wonder who, or what, she had to give permission to enter he had to roll out of the way of a charging metal bull.

Percy grimaced when he got a good look at it. It reminded him of the Minotaur, and that was no good thing. "I think I'm having war flashbacks…" he muttered as his stomach started to turn at the sight of them.

" _Hey, hold it in until your friend's okay."_

Riptide was right, as Annabeth and her companion, who she apparently had to let into Camp Half-Blood, weren't doing so hot, no pun intended, as you'll soon see.

They were fighting off two of the metal bulls, with just three campers, who were on border patrol, providing backup. Percy dove into the fray, trying to at least draw their attention, but he couldn't get too close. He was actually planning on riding one of them away, and have the other follow him, but their metal surface must've been a million degrees, so that was out.

Fortunately, one of them did target Percy, and charged. At the last minute Percy rolled out of the way, forcing it to slowly turn, buying time for Annabeth, who looked quite injured, to try and stumble further into camp and out of harm's way. However she, along with her partner, stayed and tried to fight. "Get out of here!" Percy called, preparing for another attack.

"Not while you're here!" Annabeth snapped back, annoyed that Percy would even suggest running.

"Bah! Fine," Percy conceded, side-stepping the bull second charge and slashing it across the side. This time, it managed to stop, and got the other's attention. "Uh oh…" Percy started running as both dashed full-force at him.

" _Do what you did with the Minotaur,"_ Riptide suggested.

"Pass out?"

" _No, with the tree."_

"Ooh…that's not a bad idea," Percy offered, veering toward one of the trees nearest to him. It was a big, thick one too. Percy put his back to it as one of the bulls was coming straight at him, and then rolled out of the way, hoping that it would get stuck. It didn't. The bull just charged through, and with a combination of heat and raw power, it just busted through the trunk.

" _Well, I tried."_

Yeah, Riptide tried, but its "trying" put Percy in a bad way. He was still getting up from the roll, and the other bull was about to breathe fire. Oh yeah, these bulls could do that. Percy raised his sword, though he had no idea what he was going to do with it. "Watch out!" Clarisse called as she and a dozen other campers came to fight.

Percy closed his eyes and hoped that burning to death wouldn't hurt too much, but it never came. The residual heat came, sure, but that meant that the flames were hitting something was in front of Percy.

When he opened his eyes, Annabeth's partner was blocking the fire from Percy. "What are you _doing_?!" Percy yelled at the man…boy…thing, but not even his clothes were singed when the fire ceased. "What the hell?"

"Annabeth's friend needs help," the man spoke, but his voice was like that of a twelve-year-old; higher and a bit more innocent that Percy had expected. "You protect Annabeth, I protect you," he said.

"Y-yeah, sure," Percy was still in shock from his near-death experience. This was when Clarisse's group arrived, diverting the attention of one of the bulls. Annabeth was trailing behind, holding her side and leaning on a tree about forty yards away from Percy. The bull charged at the two, and the big guy actually caught it, and then bashed its face in!

" _Dude…this guy has everything on you."_

"Shut up, Riptide."

" _I mean, he can withstand fire, he can hold this thing which is like a million degrees, and he's strong enough to make a fist-shaped dent in its face. What can you do again?"_

"Shut _up_ , Riptide!" Percy snapped. "Hey, big guy, hold that thing still for me!"

The big guy nodded, and as the bull charged again, he caught it. This time, he was forced back, but he then propped himself on a tree trunk, and held fast. Percy took his opportunity, and let loose a blinding array of sword slashes on the beast, cutting into its metal hide and clawing through the gears that made it work, before cutting through its legs so it couldn't run.

By the time Percy was done, in about three seconds of starting, the mechanical bull slowly died like a computer would in the movie; its whirring noise slowly lowering in pitch until it stopped.

Percy took a deep breath, and examined himself, seeing a few charred holes in his Camp Half-Blood muscle shirt, and mentally cursing the bulls for making him have to buy a new one. It was at these times that Percy actually wished that he was a child of Hermes, so he could be naturally gifted at stealing things, like a shirt for instance.

"Annabeth!" the big guy cried, running over to her. His massive frame made the ground shake a little bit with each step, or that was what it felt like to Percy. The son of Poseidon was shaken out of his daze by the name, and he jogged over to her as well. She looked like she could collapse at any moment, so Percy helped her remain standing.

"What's your name, big guy?" Percy wondered.

"I am Tyson," the guy answered, proud of the name. "I am super strong, and I can stand in fire, and I like hugs and…" he continued on.

" _Why does he sound like a guy version of Starfire?"_

"You got me…" Percy muttered. "Hey, Tyson, listen, I don't know what you are, but the others could really use you," Percy said, gesturing to the other group of campers who were busy dodging the remaining bull. "Just do what you did to help me. Look for a punk chick with a giant spear; she'll do to hacking and slashing like me, okay?"

Tyson looked to Annabeth for approval, and she managed as weak nod. He dashed off, leaving the two alone. "…I'm not…"

"No arguing," Percy said assertively. "You need to get to the infirmary."

After a second of hesitation, Annabeth allowed herself to be helped to the infirmary, where she was laid up in a bed. Soon enough, injured campers from Clarisse's squad came in too, signifying that their battle had ended as well.

Annabeth fell asleep soon after she and Percy arrived.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys! Thanks so much for reading! Just to let you know, these next couple of chapters are going to be very talk-y, so be prepared. And don't forget to review!**


	15. Annabeth Would Hate To See His Carry-on

Percy spent the next couple of days tending to Annabeth, whenever he wasn't on patrol duty anyway. He figured it was the fair thing to do, considering how much she did for him when he had arrived at camp the previous year. However, unlike him, she didn't drool.

Chiron came a few times as well, giving Percy updates about the tree, but for the most part, it was just him and the injured. Tyson, who it turned out was a friendly Cyclops, was allowed special permission to stay at camp because of his help with the attack, and stayed at the Big House. During the day, he was either with Percy helping Annabeth, or down in the forges with Beckendorf, who appreciated the help and showed Tyson how to forge, since that's what Cyclopes did for his father anyway.

Annabeth woke up a few times, before she could reasonably get up anyway, and asked for news on what happened. Percy told her the story. When he told her about Thalia's tree, she just stared blankly ahead, as if she already knew. She nodded after he told her. "I saw the wound," she said.

"Right…so, why did you show up at camp like that? All beaten up?"

"I was attacked," Annabeth said curtly. "Tyson helped."

"Right…" Percy avoided eye contact. It wasn't that he was embarrassed or didn't want to look her in the eye, but the look she had on her face when she said just those two words, Tyson helped, was too much for Percy. She looked defeated in every sense of the word, and Percy _never_ wanted to see her like that. Still, he chose not to ask why she looked like that, at least not yet. Besides, he wouldn't have to.

"I don't like Cyclopes," she said. "They're…deceitful."

"How? Tyson seems so…"

"Innocent?" she guessed. "…Maybe…the last time I dealt with Cyclopes was when I was seven, on the run with Luke and Thalia. We ran into a few, and they tricked Luke and Thalia and captured them. They almost killed them, almost killed me, but…"

"You're tough, you managed," Percy finished. Annabeth chuckled.

"And then when Tyson showed up, I…had no choice but to trust him. I'd already," she held her side. "Taken a bad hit, and I was in Virginia. We just barely made it here…though you already knew that."

"Sure," Percy said, being really helpful, obviously.

Annabeth smiled lightly for a second, but then it faded when she looked at him. "So…Chiron told me you revealed your powers…how'd that go?"

Percy shrugged. "No one really cared. Some of your cabinmates said I might be a distant relative of a minor sea god or something like that."

"…So you're still with the Hermes cabin?"

"Yeah…and things are going to get crowded again soon," Percy said. The two sat in silence for a while. Percy was tempted to ask if she needed anything, but it was as if she read his mind when she spoke next.

"…I'm fine, you don't have to watch over me," she claimed.

"I don't mind," Percy returned.

"I'd feel uncomfortable," she looked at him, clearly giving him a warning. "With you watching me sleep."

Percy was aware enough to get the hint. He stood. "Take it easy," he said, patting her shoulder before leaving her alone.

xxxXXXxxx

" _Man, she hates you,"_ Riptide claimed, as Percy was playing volleyball with some Apollo kids.

" _What? No, she doesn't,"_ Percy returned in his head as he received a serve.

" _Dude, did you not pick up on it? Especially at the end?"_

" _There's nothing strange about her wanting alone time,"_ Percy claimed, receiving a chance ball, and then going for a spike, scoring.

" _Nu-uh, that wasn't her wanting 'alone time,' that was her saying 'get the hell out of here'."_

" _I think you're reading too much into it,_ especially _for a sword,"_ Percy thought as the opposing setter faked our team out with a dump. "Damn…that's 25…" Percy said. He bid the Apollo kids farewell as they began to start another game.

"… _But still, didn't she seem a little off to you?"_

"I don't know, maybe? A year's a long time. Besides, we haven't exactly had a consistent track record as it is."

" _But still…"_

"Hey, I got a question; why do you care? You have no stake in this or me."

" _Well, in case you haven't noticed, my life is spent making references and dealing with your shit, so yeah, I kinda care when shit is happening, especially if you're too stupid to see it."_

"Oh, don't give me that. Anyway, do you need a shining? Sharpening? I need something to do."

" _Percy, I'm a magical Celestial Bronze blade. I don't rust, I don't get nicks, and I don't ever dull,"_ it reminded him.

"Well then what am I supposed to do?"

" _What about Pegasus riding?"_

"None of the Pegasi like me. They call me a heretic," Percy whined.

" _Probably because you haven't been claimed,"_ Riptide reasoned. " _Just go and try to make friends. It might be useful later."_

Percy sighed, but obeyed. He anxiously adjusted his hat, and started walking over to the Pegasus stables only to find a commotion. Percy's first instinct was "monster attack" and drew Riptide, but it turns out that it was only Tyson, trying to ride the "chicken ponies."

" _Begone, monster!"_ one of the Pegasi ordered, even if Tyson couldn't hear it.

"Relax, guys. He's friendly," Percy assured them, but his speaking just made them more agitated.

" _Begone, heretic! Long live Poseidon!"_

Silena was busy trying to calm them down. "Oh, don't mind them," she assured. _"_ They just get," one of them tried to kick her. "A bit spooked every now and then."

"Tyson, maybe we should step out."

"But-" he was about to argue.

Silena interrupted. "Oh, they'll get used to him soon enough," she claimed.

"Somehow I don't think that's gonna…" Percy trailed off, as the room dimmed, despite bright sunlight beaming into the stables. Percy wouldn't have believed it if he didn't see it himself, but the Pegasi suddenly were no longer afraid of Tyson. In fact, they bowed. Above Tyson's head was glowing green trident. It was the same one that marked Cabin 3, Poseidon's symbol.

Tyson had been claimed by Poseidon.

xxxXXXxxx

The next few days went by in a blur. Everything was numb to Percy; nothing felt real. It was the same feeling he got last year, when he met his father. Once Chiron got word of Tyson's claiming, he was immediately moved into Cabin 3. People started making fun of him less, so life was getting better for him. Annabeth was recovering well, and the camp's defenses were doing as well as they could under the circumstances.

Still, Percy felt his emptiness slowly transform in an unyielding rage. Eventually, after letting it build up over the course of a few days, he couldn't stand it anymore. The breaking point was when he woke up early one morning and saw Tyson, a monster, walk out of Poseidon's cabin wearing a necklace that had been left for him; it had the trident symbol. " _I should be the one wearing that, and_ I _should be the one walking out of that cabin,"_ Percy thought, only making him madder.

He was tempted to go over and run Tyson through with Riptide, but then the other campers _really_ wouldn't like him, so he went out to the woods and the creek where he normally trained his water powers. He went all out, whipping up large waves, especially considering how much water was flowing, and using the water to slash the trees around him, turning the liquid in razor-sharp bladed projectiles. He must've done it for hours, alone, and was getting exhausted from exerting himself so much, but he kept going.

How? How could Poseidon even think of claiming that thing? How was that fair; Tyson was even dumber than Percy was and he didn't inherit his water control or was half as good with a sword.

Then he heard footsteps. The water retreated back into the creek, and Percy tried to get his emotions under control.

As soon as he saw the blond hair, the tension in his body faded. "What are you doing here, Percy?" she demanded.

"Annabeth," he walked over to her. She was steady on her feet, had her knife at her side, and seemed to be ready for action again, though she still had bandages on her arm just to be safe. "You look…better."

"Yeah, well, three days of ambrosia will do that," she said curtly. "And you never answered my question."

Percy ignored it further. "How'd you find me?"

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, like she thought he was messing with her. To be fair, he'd done it before. "I followed the screaming."

"O-oh…" Percy hadn't even realized that he'd been yelling. "And, uh…what's up?"

"Chiron has an announcement," she said, pointing. "We're all supposed to meet at the dining pavilion."

"Okay," he said as he started jogging alongside her, back to camp. He wanted really badly for her to ask what was wrong, but he also didn't want to say anything. He would have no idea what to say; even if he had the words to describe the betrayal he was feeling, it would've been too much.

So of course she asked.

"…So why were you out here?" she repeated. "Did something happen?"

Percy nearly broke down. "…Nothing," he tried to pass it off. "Just working too hard."

Annabeth either almost bought it, or was considering letting it go. She did neither. "…We both know that's not true."

"Annabeth…fine. Tyson was claimed…by Poseidon."

"You're dad?" she looked surprised. Percy recalled his conversation with the sea god as the two approached the pavilion.

" _You will not address me as your father, because I have not claimed you."_

"He's not…" Percy stopped himself. Annabeth didn't know what Poseidon had said to Percy. "Never mind…"

Annabeth sighed. "It's fine if you don't want to say more. I don't want any more of your baggage anyway."

She walked away before she could respond, over to her cabinmates at the Athena table.

Percy blinked. " _Told you she was mad."_

"Shut up, Riptide," He gritted his teeth, and steeled himself as he went over to the Hermes table, which was fuller than usual because today was the day that both summer campers arrived and the day that new campers generally arrived, and all of _them_ hadn't been claimed. Tyson was alone at the Poseidon table, looking very uncomfortable and out of place. " _Good_ ," Percy couldn't help thinking, and he felt bad about thinking that way, but that was honestly his first thought upon seeing Tyson at the table.

"Campers, peace!" Chiron silenced everyone once the stragglers, including Percy and Annabeth, had arrived. "As all of you know, the tree which has provided Camp Half-Blood's magical borders has faltered. It has been poisoned with venom that even I know nothing of," Chiron said.

" _Is it just me, or is he speaking more old-fashioned? Maybe…more articulate?"_

" _He only does that when he's not sure of something,"_ Percy explained to Riptide.

Chiron continued. "As you know, monsters now threaten this safe-haven. But fear not, young children. I have been informed of a possible solution by Annabeth Chase. Recall, if you will, a magical item so potent in healing magic, that it was lost to the modern world. The Golden Fleece was last seen when Hercules retrieved it thousands of years ago. If young Annabeth is correct, it is located somewhere within the Sea of Monsters, coordinates 30, 31, 75, 12, off the coast of Florida."

Murmurs passed over the crowd of campers, murmurs of a new quest. Annabeth sunk into her chair, trying not to be noticed. Percy silently wondered how she knew about this at all.

"This means that a quest will be given," Chiron confirmed. "Does anyone have any suggestions as to who should lead it?"

A few people muttered their own names, but none of them sounded particularly confident. Percy was actually going to offer himself, but then Poseidon's words crept back into his mind. "Dumb luck…" he muttered, feeling the sting of his words come back full-force. Percy bit his bottom lip to hold back his sadness.

Then someone at the Hermes cabin stood up. "I vote Percy Jackson!" it was said proudly.

Percy looked up to see…one of the Stoll brothers; they co-counseled the Hermes cabin, and they looked so similar that Percy was surprised that they weren't twins. He wasn't sure what expression he shot the boy, given that he was both grateful and pissed off at the same time.

As you can imagine the vote was unanimously in Percy's favor…not.

"What?"

"No way! He already quested last year!"

"We can't let him have all the glory!"

Charles Beckendorf stood. "But he _succeeded_ in his quest, is the important thing, right?"

Clarisse stood, clearly extremely angry. "But who's to say that wasn't _dumb luck_?" she put poison into the words, knowing that they'd force a reaction out of Percy. He burst up.

"It _wasn't_!" he snapped, his eyes wild with fury. "And I told you _not_ to say it was!"

"Why? Because it's true?" she continued mocking him.

"Says the person who couldn't even beat me _before_ I went on the quest," Percy claimed, but Clarisse wasn't fazed.

"From what I heard, you just kept getting into one accident after another, with _no_ certain way of succeeding," she continued. "Face it, Spider; your quest was a fluke!"

Percy was about ready to go over and kick her ass, but some Hermes kids held him back. Then, someone who Percy didn't expect to speak actually stood up. His presence silenced the other campers.

Tyson looked bashful. "I…think Percy should go…" he said, just loud enough for everyone to hear. Percy almost felt sorry for the guy and grateful that he voted for him, but then he saw that trident necklace and his anger came back full-force, and this time he didn't care what he said.

"I don't need the endorsement of a monster!" Percy snapped. "I can fight my own battles!"

Silence crept into the pavilion. After the echo of Percy's words left, Tyson's sobs were the only thing that was heard.

"Hey, come on, man," Beckendorf was the first to speak up after that. "That wasn't necessary."

"But still, one claimed by Poseidon gave Percy his blessing," someone from the Apollo table offered.

"Maybe we should listen," Silena agreed, along with most of the Aphrodite cabin. "And he _did_ pull through last year, and he could barely hold a sword back then, right? Look at him now."

"Yeah, he's a heartless asshole," a Demeter kid mocked.

"Not to mention an idiot," an Athena kid chimed in. Percy wanted Annabeth to punch whoever said it, but she didn't; just shot a nasty glare.

"I don't need to be nice _or_ smart to kill monsters and get results, now do I?" Percy argued. "I mean, who else would _dare_ go into the Sea of Monsters, eh?"

" _Do you even know what the Sea of Monsters is?"_ Riptide questioned, though Percy ignored it.

"I don't exactly hear anyone else who has the guts!" he challenged.

"I'll do it!" Clarisse called. "And bring glory back to the Ares name!"

"What? You mean after I whupped his ass last year?" Percy mocked, even though he knew it was a lie; he'd bluffed his way to victory.

"Enough!" Mr. D yelled, and grapevines erupted around the pavilion. Now, one would think that wouldn't be intimidating, but Mr. D managed to make them look like they could choke a bitch. "You all are arguing like children when your _lives_ are at stake! Show some restraint, you little bastards!"

Percy was surprised that Mr. D was showing even the slightest bit of concern about the campers, but then he sat back down and rubbed his temple. He'd just gotten a migraine because of their bickering, so he put a stop to it.

The pavilion was once again silent. The force of the god's words shook the crowd. Chiron at last spoke again. "Thank you, Mr. D, though perhaps next time you could try to mince words. As you can tell, there is some…division among us. I suggest a contest of skill; have any of you heard of the chariot races?" murmurs shot through the crowd again, but were quickly silenced. "It is an event that was banned from camp some years back, for erm…safety concerns. I propose we bring them back this one time. The danger in them will be meant to test how well one might do in the Sea of Monsters. Consider it a test."

Agreement rose from the campers, but Percy couldn't help but glare directly at Clarisse. He could've been gone by the next day, on his way to save camp. Now they'd have waste a week preparing and he might not even get to go.

What a joke.

 **Author's Note:**

 **I'm kinda not really feeling these titles anymore. I think I'm just gonna name them what I want, rather than trying to copy the style from the books.**

 **Anyway, this time, I kinda wanted to continue giving you guys some music that I thought fits the story. Now, in a traditional anime episode, there's an opening that lasts about one and a half minutes, and then the episode happens, and then there's an ending theme that usually lasts another one and half minutes.**

 **For the Lightning thief adaptation, I imagined the ending theme being the second ending from Gurren Lagann. It's name is Minna no Piisu, which translates to "Everyone's Peace". It's this adventurous little rock song that basically spreads the message of believing in yourself and all of that shit. While the words in the song are kind of bland, the feeling of the song is just one of an adventure, to me anyway, which is why I felt that it fit in the most "adventurous" journey in the first five series of books. Unfortunately, there isn't a good English cover for this song, which I'll try to avoid in the future, but whatever.**

 **Thank you all for reading and be sure to let me know what you think in a review!**


	16. Half of This is a Bad Ben-Hur

A week passed; more training, more monster attacks, more tension around camp, and more frustration for Percy. He noticed that more of the campers were starting to avoid him, especially those who had arrived the day that the quest was announced. He couldn't imagine why.

" _Because you were a total dickweed."_

"Shut up, Riptide," Percy muttered.

Before lights out, the night of the announcement of the chariot race, Annabeth approached Percy about the idea. While he wanted to ask why she would want to work with him, considering the cold shoulder she gave him before parting for the announcement, he decided to just accept it and accept her help, as she knew _way_ more about chariots than Percy did. Besides, she said she didn't want his baggage, so they could strictly talk chariots. There was one thing, however, that he brought up to her.

In was two days after the announcement, and the two had decided on a design and building schedule. There was little room for error, but thankfully both were extremely competent in what they were doing, especially Annabeth.

"So…" Percy started.

She pointed. "You need to sand it more. You're not done," she said.

"No, I know, but I have a question."

"What?"

"How'd you know about the Golden Fleece? And those coordinates?"

Annabeth sighed. "I've…been having dreams…about, uh, Grover," she seemed hesitant to say the name. Percy's ears trained on the blonde. "He says he formed an empathy link with me. I didn't believe it at first, but then he said he was lured by nature magic, that would be the Fleece, and he says that he's been trapped."

"So you wanted to help him."

"And save the camp," Annabeth quickly added. "But now…I'm not so sure."

"Why?"

"Well…" she definitely didn't look enthused to be talking about it. "I don't know," she admitted. "I kind of…expected something different."

"Like what?"

" _She wanted the quest, idiot,"_ Riptide explained.

"O-oh, um…so…" Percy didn't know how to follow up. "I mean…"

She chuckled, her voice slightly defensive. "Hey, it's not like it's the first time I wanted a quest," she said, confusing Percy at first, then he realized that she was talking about the one last year; the one that he took from her. She'd even offered to Chiron to go in his stead.

"Annabeth, I…"

"It's fine…it just…wasn't meant to be," she sighed. "Maybe fate has something else in store for me."

"Fate?" Percy questioned. "What fate?"

She stopped working for a minute. "I don't know; the gods, prophecies, you name it. We're all subject to some kind of control, conscious or not," she explained. "Face it, Percy; all our destinies are set in stone."

"Not mine," Percy claimed. "I make my own."

"That is _such_ a platitude," she said.

"I don't know what that means."

" _It means you just said something cliché."_

"Well, what kind of higher power could I be fighting for? We don't know our destinies, right? How could we fight or live in the name of fulfilling something we don't know?" Percy argued, shaking his head. "No way, I fight for me. Not fate, not any kind of prophecy, and definitely _not_ the gods."

Percy returned to work, trying to focus on sanding. "…I'm not so sure," Annabeth said. She wanted so badly to press the matter more, but she knew that he'd blow up if she did. She could tell he wasn't ready to be honest with her. Instead, she focused on something in the moment. "You need to use a finer paper," she claimed, handing him one, before returning to her own work.

xxxXXXxxx

The day of the chariot race finally arrived.

The rules were simple; two laps around the race, whoever made it through first would go on the quest for the Golden Fleece. Chariots would be pulled by two horses of the driver's choosing, teams would consist of a driver and fighter. Dirty tricks and weapons of any kind were allowed and injuries were expected, but maiming, dismemberment, or killing with an asterisk, was punishable by stable-cleaning duty for a month. The asterisk said "if possible."

And because of that asterisk, most of the cabins opted out of the race. The only ones that participated were Hermes, led by the Stoll brothers, the Hephaestus cabin, led by Beckendorf and having Tyson as the fighter, the Athena cabin, who were led by less attractive Annabeth clones, the Ares cabin, led by Clarisse, and the Percy/Annabeth group, led by guess who.

The one that Annabeth was most fearful of was actually the Hephaestus chariot; they may not be incredibly smart like Athena's kids, but they were creative and technologically unparalleled.

Meanwhile, Percy was worried about the Ares chariot. Not only did Clarisse have it out for him, but Percy wasn't even going to be the one fighting; he was more worried that Annabeth was going to get hurt. Of course, he couldn't tell her that or she'd waste him for implying any kind of weakness.

Still, in her defense, she was wicked good with a knife, and was a resourceful fighter, which is why she was elected as such. All Percy would've been able to do it slash at any projectiles, as no water was near enough to him to be useable. Besides, blessing or no blessing, Percy was naturally talented at horse-riding, given that they were Poseidon's sacred animal.

All of the chariots lined up at the starting line, with Clarisse snarling at Percy, and him doing it right back. Annabeth rolled her eyes at their childishness and slapped Percy to make him stop. "You oughta put a muzzle on your dog next time," Clarisse mocked. Annabeth shot her a glare, but tried to focus on the race.

"Chariot riders!" Chiron called. Every camper was also packed into the stands. "Are you ready?" they all roared in affirmation. "Then get ready, and…begin!"

A horn blew, and the chariots took off. Immediately, the Hermes chariot flipped over because of a malfunctioning device, putting them out of the race. The Athena and Ares chariots were neck-and-neck in the lead, followed by Hephaestus and then Percy/Annabeth.

"Percy! Get me close!" Annabeth called over the crowd and the wind. Percy obliged, though he didn't exactly know _how_ close, so he just rode up against it. He wanted so badly to let go and help fight, but he forced himself to focus on the track; they were about halfway through the first lap.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tyson half-heartedly swing a club at Annabeth, who handily avoided it. She took one of the weapons they stored, a good-sized spear, and shoved it into one of their wheels. The chariot quickly became uncontrollable and they were forced to stop. "Next time, you should make them flip over!" Percy said.

"Don't give me that; focus on the path!" Annabeth ordered. With Hephaestus and Hermes out of the way, all that was left were Athena and Ares, who they were gaining on. The first lap was over.

Thankfully, it turns out that they wouldn't have to deal with Athena, because Ares just destroyed their chariot. " _Huh, I thought they'd make it farther_ ," Riptide said.

"Yeah, me too," Percy returned as they essentially tailgated the Ares chariot. Clarisse had a wild look her eye, not unlike how Percy got when he fought monsters, but this time it was _directed_ at him. Clarisse was sending all kinds of stuff; arrows, javelins, even just throwing swords at Percy, trying to get him to slip up and go off-course or something.

Even then, he managed to retain enough control to slip to their side and gain on them. Annabeth grabbed another spear, prepared to beat them like she did Hephaestus, but Clarisse knocked the spear right out of the daughter of Athena's hands and then tried to stab right through her. Annabeth thankfully avoided that, but looked a little shaken up from it.

Percy had almost forgotten; this was Annabeth's first combat encounter since she came to camp. It'd been almost two weeks, and last time she'd been horribly injured. Percy could understand her apprehension. Still, she stood and prepared herself, trying again to take the chariot out of commission. Once again, it failed, and this time Clarisse was fast enough to make a good-size cut on Annabeth's arm. "Try to pull ahead!" she called over the wind.

Percy probably could've done it too. They were neck-and-neck, and Percy's horses didn't have as much weight to carry. They would've won.

But then all hell broke loose.

It came out of nowhere; this huge black and red monstrosity of a scorpion. Its stinger was probably the size of some of the smaller kids at camp, and it came barreling onto the track and started going for the campers in the stands. Those campers weren't prepared for that kind of attack; they'd brought weapons because of the monster attacks, but nothing to take down a giant scorpion.

Annabeth either didn't seem to care, or she was too tunnel-visioned on the chariot race to notice. Knowing her, probably the latter. Clarisse was much the same way.

Percy looked frantically from the finish line to the scorpion who was drawing closer and rearing back its stinger. He could only imagine the kind of poison that it could inject someone with. Scratch that, it would just kill whoever the stinger ran through. It would only take ten more seconds to cross the finish line. They had it in the bag…but that was ten seconds that people could die.

Percy veered off course, straight for the scorpion. "What are you _doing_?!" Annabeth's scream probably could've deafened a normal man. "We _had_ that!"

"Scorpion!" Percy yelled back. Annabeth didn't look any happier that they were fighting it, but she kept her mouth shut about the stupid race.

The horses barreled into the monster, and then the chariot rammed right into it. While the assault dazed it, the monster was far from done. It quickly stung one of the horses, making it both bleed out and stop functioning altogether. Percy and Annabeth leapt out of the chariot before it collapsed from impact damage, Percy drawing Riptide, and Annabeth armed with a shield and her knife.

" _You're gonna die,"_ Riptide guessed, knowing that Percy had no plan.

"Hey, wanna watch me prove you wrong?"

Annabeth rolled out of the way of a stab, and Percy tried to follow up with an attack, but it retracted the stinger way too fast for him to take a swing at it. So, he did the next best thing: Percy went for the legs.

He slashed into one of them, with even the smallest one being the thickness of Percy's leg. Annabeth was even bolder, climbing on top of it and stabbing her knife into the creature's tail, and then trying to cut it off, but apparently the knife got stuck. "Look out!" Percy called, but then she was shaken off. Despite her being off-balance, Annabeth managed to raise her shield enough to ward off a stab from the stinger, even getting it stuck in the ground.

At this point, the other campers had started to regroup. The Apollo kids were notching their arrows, and the Ares and Athena kids were coming back with swords, shields, and spears. Clarisse had also crossed the finish line, and was coming this way, but Percy couldn't see her, as his back was turned to her.

Percy climbed onto the scorpion's stinger just as it was unlodged from the ground, and found the joint that connected it. Percy raised his blade, and slashed through the joint, but failed to completely cut it off. He certainly pissed the scorpion off though, as it writhed and flailed its tail around. Percy hung on for dear life.

Just then, Clarisse came barreling in with her chariot, with its barbed wire and spear-laden design doing significantly more damage than Annabeth and Percy's chariot had. Unfortunately, it also made the monster's tail lurch in just the right way, flinging Percy off and into the wall of the stands.

The Apollo kids let loose their arrows, about fifty of them from like ten campers, and all of them hit their marks. The Ares and Athena kids formed a phalanx, so all of the scorpion's subsequent stabs were ineffectual against them as they advanced. Once they were close enough, they let loose their weapons, slashing and stabbing repeatedly into the monster until it eventually exploded into dust and then dissipated.

The danger was gone, but it took a moment for everyone to process everything that had happened.

Suddenly, Mr. D appeared in the crowd of campers, right next to Clarisse, and raised her hand. "We have our victor, and the camper who will lead a quest for the Golden Fleece!"

xxxXXXxxx

Everyone was getting patched up from the chariot races and the attack when Clarisse went to the Big House. Percy was trying to salvage what weapons he could from the destroyed chariots; any weapons they could keep, the better. He heard footsteps. "What were you thinking?" Annabeth demanded. "We could've just won the race, and saved everyone afterwards."

"I was _trying_ to save camp," Percy answered, trying not to get mad. He didn't look at her.

"That was the point of the race! We win the race, we find the Fleece, and we save camp."

"Annabeth…" Percy warned.

"That was the dumbest thing you've done so far."

Percy shot up and whirled around. "So you would've just used those precious seconds to win your precious race and let people die?!" he snapped.

"They're demigods too, all of them. They've would've been-"

"Oh yeah, barely armed and most of them untrained. That would've worked out just great! You know, I _barely_ beat the Minotaur last year, and I'm a _natural_ fighter. How do you think it would've worked out for someone who has different strengths, huh?" Annabeth glared.

Annabeth looked like she was about to argue further, but just set her jaw and stormed off. Her eyes seemed at their brightest in that moment, only out of anger instead of excitement. Percy took a deep breath and returned to his work.

" _I feel like you have some anger issues,"_ Riptide claimed.

"I don't want to talk about it."

" _But it helps to talk. Trust me; I've been around a lot longer than you."_

"I said I don't want to talk about it," Percy said as stood, finished with the job. He left the area, and went to the beach by the lake. He sat in the water, finding it calming.

" _You two are such dumbass teenagers, you know that?"_

"It's her fault," Percy claimed. He then thought about it. "Or…maybe not entirely."

" _There you go."_

"But she started it," Percy made up an excuse. "So she has to break first."

" _That's not how it works. And besides, you don't even know_ what _started it, do you?"_

"Yeah, that's the problem!" he claimed.

Percy took another couple of deep breaths…and then he had to deal with his absolute favorite person…thing, in the whole world.

"Percy…" Tyson's childlike voice sounded like poison, through no fault of his own.

"What?" Percy didn't even try to hide the resentment in his voice.

"I am…sorry that you did not win."

Percy wanted so badly to snap again. He wanted to just be angry and bitter and deal with it by himself. He knew that if he did that, he'd be more miserable, but it would also feel a lot better in the moment. Like "yeah, I really stuck it to him," kinda thing, but then in a few hours, when he would see Tyson after he'd finished crying, he'd feel so much regret…but with that trident necklace…

"…It's not your fault…" Percy forced the words out, trying to subtly communicate that he wasn't in the mood for conversation. Unfortunately, this was Tyson, and he sat down next to Percy to have a chat.

"I am also sorry for not being of more help."

"When?"

"When the monster came…"

"Hey yeah…come to think of it, where were-"

" _Percy,"_ Riptide warned.

"I-I mean…that wasn't your fault either…"

"…Annabeth says…you are a son of Poseidon as well."

Percy took a deep breath. "Well, not officially, but yeah," Percy lifted up a sprout of water and made it form into a flower. "I've got his gimmicks alright."

"She talked about you a lot," he added. Percy raised his eyebrow, almost not believing the Cyclops.

" _They're deceitful,"_ he remembered Annabeth saying.

"Really?" Percy wondered. "What'd she say?"

"She said that you were very brave, and always had just enough skill to get through."

"Eh? That doesn't sound like her…or me," Percy commented.

" _Damn it! I was gonna say that!"_

"She also said you were very combative."

"That sounds more like her," Percy said. "And anyway, she's not exactly the easiest person to deal with either," he claimed. "She gets really worked up, you know? She's takes things way too seriously and thinks there always has to be a plan."

" _She's the daughter of Athena; they're_ all _like that."_

"Annabeth said that…you do not trust people," even Tyson seemed cautious to mention that. "She said that she can understand, but-"

"Not in the least," Percy interrupted, his voice going low and dangerous. Tyson certainly picked up on his "subtle" hints this time.

" _I mean she has a point,"_ Riptide claimed _._ Percy took the pen from his pocket, and chucked it into the lake. " _You'll never get rid of me."_

"S-sorry, I did not know that…" Tyson trailed off.

"It's fine," Percy said. "They were her thoughts, not yours…" Percy hadn't realized it, but he had relaxed. This conversation felt almost normal. "What do you think of her?"

"Of Annabeth?"

"Yeah."

"I think she is very pretty," was his immediate answer. "That is why I helped her."

Percy, to be completely honest, wasn't even surprised. " _He really is dumber than a second coat of paint, huh?"_ Riptide said. " _Though to be fair, you're on about the same level."_

" _Do you have an off switch?"_ Percy thought.

"… _I would make a Deadpool reference here, but you're only fifteen. It'd be inappropriate."_

" _Says the one who made a Pulp Fiction reference on my quest last year, when I was fourteen? And you_ just _made a George Carlin reference too!"_

" _Look, there's a method to my madness. I only take from classy R-rated flicks and/or standups. But enough about that, I think you're having an important conversation."_

Percy would readily admit that his brain got off track. Where were they? Tyson thought Annabeth was pretty. "Is that all you think of her?"

Tyson had to think about the question. "She is smart. She is nice. Not at first though."

"Yeah, she doesn't usually like Cyclopes or Percy Jackson's. I consider it a compliment that she even tolerates me."

"…Do you like me?" Tyson wondered. Percy looked over to him. His single eye was staring out at the lake.

"I…" Percy had absolutely no idea how to answer that; he barely knew the guy and a lot of it he didn't like…but then again, that "lot" was mostly out of his control.

"It is fine if you think I am a monster," he said. He said it was fine, but he looked on the verge of tears; even Percy had to look past his own ego for that. "Because I am."

"N-no, you're not. I…listen, Tyson…being claimed is like…a really big deal. Normally it's only Half-Bloods, not 'monsters' like you. It's kind of the same thing with like the nature god, whatever his name is, doesn't claim satyrs; they're just all his children. It's that kinda thing, but with your kind and Poseidon."

"Is that why you do not like me? Because I was claimed by daddy?"

"…Yes," Percy admitted. "It made me…jealous."

" _That's an understatement."_

"Last year…I met Poseidon, and…it didn't go well. I've been waiting since the day I found out about my powers for him to claim me, and when he claimed you it just…it felt like a slap in the face. I felt like he was mocking me. So…as a son of Poseidon, I can't say that I like you," Percy said. Tyson shed a few tears. "But," Percy quickly backtracked, as he realized he'd been too blunt. "As just you, as Tyson, I think…I can…work something out."

Tyson immediately switched gears. "We're friends?" he asked excitedly.

"I mean, if you want to say that then sure, we're-" Percy couldn't finish his sentence, as Tyson brought him into a bear hug. After that, Percy couldn't even breathe, let alone speak. Thankfully, Tyson let go.

"Annabeth is also my friend!" Tyson exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah, I figured."

"And we're friends!"

"Yeah, I just said that."

"So you two should be friends too!" he claimed. Percy didn't answer, just stared at the lake. It was a childish way to say it, but it was what needed to be said.

"…Yeah, I should probably try to work things out with her."

"Hooray!"

xxxXXXxxx

Chiron's hooves clopped up to the doorway long before he spoke. After Annabeth walked off on Percy, she tried to keep her mind on other things. She went to the Athena cabin to look again at the blueprints for the chariot they built, and how she could find ways to make it sturdier, rather than being destroyed on impact with a giant scorpion. She would never need to build another chariot, but it was _something_ to keep her brain moving.

"Annabeth," Chiron called her name from outside. The girl's cabinmates all turned their heads to her, and gave her a sly smirk, as if saying "you're gonna be stuck doing stable cleanup for a month."

Annabeth walked out, and met Chiron. "Yes?" she wondered.

"You seemed…troubled," Chiron noted. "I figured it was right to come check on you."

Annabeth flinched; she was never good at hiding annoyance…or anger…or sadness. Still, she thought she'd covered it up this time. "I-I'm fine. T-thank you for your c-concern," she said, though she stuttered, inwardly cursing herself.

"Your stammering says otherwise," Chiron said. "Would you care to explain?" The two took a walk through camp, with Chiron being sure to steer her clear of the lakefront, though she didn't know why. "It is about Percy, correct?"

"No," Annabeth said immediately. "Anything but about that idiot. I'm just…mad, that _I_ didn't get the quest, is all."

Chiron laughed; his laugh was hearty like a good Santa Claus. "If it were that simple, you'd be over it by now," he said. He was right too; other than Grover and Luke, Chiron had known Annabeth the longest out of anyone at camp, and acted as almost a paternal guardian to her, especially when she didn't see the option of going back to her real father. He knew her like the back of his hand, and Annabeth hated it because she couldn't lie to him…not that she would make a habit out of it. "Annabeth Chase, you have known me longer than nearly everyone at this camp. You can trust me, as you have always been able to trust me," he assured.

Reluctantly, Annabeth explained her woes. And once they came, they didn't want to stop. "Fine, it's Percy. He's just been such a…Seaweed Brain lately! I mean, he's always been reckless; charging in without a plan, being all hippie-like about everything. But lately it's just been…ugh!"

"And how did this tension between you two start?"

"Oh I don't know, how about when he lied about what happened when he went to Olympus last year?" Annabeth claimed. "I just…wish, that he didn't hide things, and when he still expects people to do this and that and make the harder decisions _for_ him…it's entitled, just because he's the son of Poseidon…he's still not claimed either, so _why_ he's still on his high horse is beyond me."

"He lied? I have good sources that match Percy's. During the winter solstice meeting, the gods discussed the possibility of…a particular someone perhaps attempting a takeover. They discussed it, as well as questioned Ares, as Percy said that they had promised, correct?"

"No, not about that. About his father, and about Zeus."

"You mean their interactions?"

"Yeah, he comes back all happy-go-lucky and all, when there's clearly something wrong. He's hiding something, Chiron, just like _you're_ hiding a big prophecy from us, right?" Annabeth spoke before she thought her words through. It was an unfortunate trait of hers. "Uh, I mean…forget that. That's different."

"That it is," Chiron said, though his presence was definitely a bit more defensive when he said it. Once the conversation got back on track, though, he returned to normal. "Now, Annabeth, you've known Percy for how long, now?"

"About a year."

"And what do you know about him? I would like a genuine answer."

"Well…he's not smart, but he can pick up on things easily once he's told," she said. It was the first thing that came to her mind because she'd seen it when they built the chariot. "He's a really good fighter, like almost as good as Luke, and besides that he's an unbelievably powerful demigod in the right situation; not just anybody can go toe-to-toe with the god of war, right? But he's not trusting. He doesn't want to share anything with anyone. I don't know anything about his life other than that his mom is dead. I don't know what he _was_ like, before coming to Camp Half-Blood, and frankly, I don't really want to know."

Chiron let her rant. When she was done, he took a deep breath. "…Well, have you ever considered _why_ he finds it so hard to trust people?"

"…"

"Annabeth."

"No, I haven't," she said. "And I don't care. He's not the only one who's had a hard life," she claimed. Annabeth recalled when she was seven, and the loneliness and isolation she felt after years of her step-mother neglecting her, and then when she was alone on the streets. When she found Thalia and Luke, they were the first ones to treat her as something more than just a freak. Her eyes began to get misty. "He's not the only one who's lost family."

Chiron took a deep breath. "…Do you have any more to say?"

"I…I wish he would trust me…" she said. "…No one needs to live without someone they could trust…"

"…That isn't something you'd normally say, at least not about yourself."

"I know," Annabeth admitted. "I know I'm not the most trustworthy person in the world; most people probably think I'd use what they tell me against them somehow. But…last year, when Percy, Grover, and I were on the quest...something changed…"

"Oh?"

Annabeth rubbed her palms together anxiously. She didn't like talking about this kind of stuff. She would rather just keep it to herself. "…We were in a truck, on the way to Vegas. We all decided to go to sleep, but Percy stayed up, singing some stupid Disney song…so I stayed up with him, and then he…talked to me," she quickly realized how stereotypically white-girl that sounded, so she followed up. "Like, we'd talked before, but this was different. I couldn't figure it out back then, about why it was different. He was…vulnerable…he opened up and he didn't want to, but he did it anyway. He opened up to _me_. Not Grover, not you, not Luke…but me. He said 'if I can do these types of things and be rejected, then maybe someone like you won't have to'."

"…"

"I don't know…I guess I thought that he would be able to open up to me all of the time, not just the one time. And then when he hid what happened on Olympus, and then with Luke…" Annabeth sighed and buried her face in her hands. "…I feel like a mess."

"I believe this would constitute as one."

"…What should I do?"

"What do you think should happen to fix this?"

"I think…he should tell me what happened, but that's not gonna happen."

"At least, not without some prodding," Chiron hinted. Annabeth looked at the centaur. "Maybe you could get a child of Aphrodite to coax it out of him, or perhaps-"

"No, no, I'll…talk to him," Annabeth conceded.

The only question was when.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Holy fuck this chapter is so long! Don't ask me why it was this long, in fact I should probably split it into two, but it just felt right to keep everything in a solitary chapter. Also, apologies that I'm not getting getting to the damn adventure, but the book itself actually spends about half of its pages dedicated to set-up too, so my excuse is that I'm following the source material.**

 **Also, I've had someone ask why Percy is nicknamed the "Cruel Spider", and I'd like to take the time to explain.**

 **There's a show called Hunter X Hunter, which is my favorite piece of entertainment of all-time. In the show is a character named Machi, and her character song is called "Threads- Cruel Spider." I really like the song, and it has this melancholic and yet hopeful tone to it. The words, while they don't directly apply to my version of Percy, manage to both send a message of "I'm going to fucking kill you" and "I'm doing this because I feel like it's what has to be done" which, in broad strokes, can fit in with this Percy fairly well. I basically gave the title because I like the song...that's about it.**

 **Let me know if you guys want other character songs or something. Even if you don't, I'll probably put them in some Author's Notes eventually. Either way, don't forget to review and let me know what you think!**


	17. He Only Had One Chance

It took a surprisingly long time for Clarisse to emerge from the Oracle's room, at least a few hours. Percy had no idea why it took so long, but he was actually glad that he didn't get the quest, so _he_ didn't have to deal with that.

Anyway, once she emerged, Chiron called a meeting for counselors and camp leaders. Annabeth and Percy tried to not to meet each other's gazes, but both could swear that the other didn't look mad anymore. Still, both silently agreed not to talk about it until the quest was underway.

Everyone looked to Clarisse expectantly, waiting for her to recite her prophecy. She took a deep breath.

" _You sail alone on iron through the breadths_

 _Where two of one shall fall to depths_

 _Succumb to friends to return alone_

 _Though doom another to atone_ "

Everyone in the room was quiet, trying to work their way through the words and decipher their meanings. "Sail alone?" Lee Fletcher, the Apollo counselor, questioned. "Does that mean she doesn't take companions?"

"Going alone into the Sea of Monsters? That's suicide," Beckendorf claimed. "Even for a child of Ares."

"What about _'succumb to friends'_?" Silena offered. "That means that someone joins her, right?"

"Yeah, but her only friends are her spear and shield," Travis Stoll teased. Silena shot her best glare, but given that she was a daughter of Aphrodite, it didn't come off as very intimidating. Beckendorf then glared as well, which put them in their place; Silena didn't seem to notice his help.

"I'll go with you, Clarisse," she offered. "We can fly into the Sea of Monsters on Lixis," she assured.

" _Who's Lixis?"_ Riptide asked.

" _Her Pegasus. Apparently it flew her to camp after she was attacked by monsters when she was twelve."_

" _Hm, so I guess not all demigods are brought here by satyrs, huh?"_

Percy shrugged, listening to the conversation once more.

"That won't work; it was pretty clear about sailing alone on iron," Annabeth reasoned. "The 'breadths' probably refers to the Sea of Monsters. She'll probably meet people on the way, maybe get help from her father."

"Know-it-all…" the Demeter counselor, Katie Gardener, muttered under her breath. Annabeth shot her a glare.

"But that still leaves the 'two of one' part. What does that mean? Are there any legends about…something? Maybe a few other sacred artifacts that Clarisse can use on her quest?" Percy questioned, not even sure where to begin when trying to recall legends of that type. It seemed everyone else was drawing a blank as well.

" _Hey, that was almost a helpful suggestion."_

"Well," Chiron spoke. "Either way, the final decision on how to go about it is left to the quester."

Eyes were on Clarisse. "I'll go alone," she announced. "I have…a few ideas," she claimed.

A collective breath was released. "Then it is decided," Chiron said. "Well then, go on. You all have chores and it's close to sundown. Go. Clarisse, stay and discuss your plans with Mr. D and I, if you would. You'll be off in the morning."

xxxXXXxxx

Percy and Annabeth, it seemed, both had the same idea. After lights out passed, they left their respective cabins. Annabeth beat him to it though. He was going to go to the woods, but he saw her staring out past the lake. He walked up to her nervously. " _Go on, you can do it,"_ Riptide urged.

"Shut up, Riptide," Percy muttered. "Um, hey," he raised his voice so she could hear. She turned around, startled by his presence.

"O-oh, hey," Annabeth was equally as defensive.

"…You mind if I join you?"

"N-no," Annabeth said. Percy sat next to her. They sat in silence, listening to the sounds of the night. A couple of wood nymphs were still awake, whistling, though theirs tended to blend in with the rustling of leaves in the wind.

" _Oh gods! Just say something! One of you!"_ Riptide complained.

"What did you think of the prophecy?" Percy blurted out, wanting to say anything to spark a conversation. Annabeth sighed.

"A lot less straightforward than last time…" she lamented her inability to figure it out. "But hey, we won't be dealing with it."

"…What if Clarisse fails?" Percy asked. Annabeth didn't answer, as they both knew it. "So…" Percy was about to start again.

"I, uh…" Annabeth was also at a loss, but she forced a few more words out. "I think it's…I mean…I'm willing to…apologize," she said. "That you…had to make that decision, at the race…"

Percy let the words sink in for a moment. He was almost going to accept the apology, when he realized something. "You're apologizing for my decision?" he questioned.

" _Oh no."_

"You're not sorry that you would've put people in danger if you had been in my shoes? You're not sorry that you were wrong, and I was right? You're not sorry that-"

"Percy," Annabeth interrupted. "Don't…just, please: accept the apology."

"No," he said.

"Why?" she questioned.

"Because it wasn't an apology."

Annabeth glared at him. "You're making this _really_ hard, you know that?"

Percy turned away indignantly. "Apparently I'm making it impossible, since you won't admit you were wrong."

"Because I wasn't!" Annabeth snapped. She hadn't realized, but her fists were clenched. She tried to release the tension, but she only succeeded in throwing her hands up in the air and giving up. "You know what? Forget it. Just forget I said anything."

"Okay, I will," Percy returned. "And I'll forget that sorry excuse for an apology while I'm at it."

"Ugh! Do you _have_ to be so confrontational?" she questioned.

"Ah!" Percy held up a finger. "I learned what that means, Dulleyes," he claimed. She fought the urge to punch him for the mocking name. "And _I'm_ not the one who starts these things."

"Oh really?" Annabeth chuckled dryly. "Then why is it that you make the dumbest decisions and expect people to like you?"

"What are you talking about?" Percy demanded. When he looked, Annabeth looked insulted, like a typical California girl would if you checked her out and she caught you.

"You don't even know why I'm mad, do you?"

"Should I?" Percy wondered. "You just…got mad one day and haven't let up."

"That is _so_ not what happened," she claimed.

"Well, if you're so pained by whatever I did, why don't you tell me what I did so that-"

"Because you should know!" Annabeth interrupted. "Gods, don't you realize that that's the entire issue?!"

"No, I don't!" Percy snapped back, standing. " _You_ may be able to read a person's life story just by looking at them, but _I_ can't. All I can do is ask and wait and act how I think I should act!"

"I can't do that either," Annabeth claimed, standing to glare at the son of Poseidon on equal ground. "And I can't even ask you about anything anyway. You won't tell me."

Percy laughed, infuriating Annabeth. "Ha! Oh yeah, like you tell me everything too? I'm sure you'd be all gung-ho to share all of your darkest secrets with me, right?"

Percy waited for the daughter of Athena to answer. She looked to be sizing him up, as if looking for one flaw that she could exploit. Instead, all she said was, "Unbelievable," and started walking off.

"What? Hey, you can't just-" she ignored him. Frustrated and at the end of his rope, Percy felt a tug at his gut. He lashed his hand to the side, making water attract to his hand and then whipped it around Annabeth's wrist, tugging her back to face him. Once again, she looked insulted; her eyebrows curled down into a deep-rooted scowl and her eyes bright with fury.

"Did you just…water-whip me?" she demanded.

"We're not done talking," Percy claimed.

"We are now!" she exclaimed, giving Percy her hardest shove and pushing him down to the ground before storming away.

Percy stared after her. " _What we've got here is failure to communicate."_

The son of Poseidon turned back to the waterfront and tried to calm himself. At this point, he was so angry he might've have flooded the whole camp if one more thing happened. He tried to vent his anger. He beat his head with his hands, bashing into his forehead and cursing himself over and over again. He felt like an angsty teenager, which was exactly what he was, and he hated the feeling. "Stupid, stupid, you goddamn moron!" he cursed himself, finally just letting his head rest on his closed fists. "You had this one chance, and you blew it…" Percy heard footsteps. "Great, what now?"

"Um, Percy?" it was Tyson. "I have-"

"Not now," Percy said, his bitterness for the Cyclops coming out again, despite himself. To be fair, all he'd had was one real conversation with the guy, so they still weren't on the best of terms. "I'm not in the mood."

"B-but," Tyson held up a package. It seemed to be glowing, and had a very clear insignia; a pair of flying shoes and a staff with two snakes wrapped around them.

"Hermes Express?" Percy said aloud as he stood, and met Tyson halfway.

"I found it on the bed," Tyson claimed. "When I woke up from a nightmare."

"Oh, I'm sorry, man," Percy said genuinely. Hearing that from Tyson's childish voice made Percy sorry for the monster. "But…what's in it? Do you know how to order from Hermes?" Tyson shook his head, and then offered a piece of paper.

"Um…" Percy had to look at it for a long time to decipher it, and even then, he only got half of the words. Riptide translated fully. The way it was worded, it almost sounded like he audio-recorded it.

" _To Whom It May Concern…so, to Percy Jackson,_

 _Within this delivery lies three items which you may use however you wish. I would've put this is my cabin for you, but I can't trust my sons and daughters not to take everything inside and make me proud. I heard about what happened, it was a real bummer with the scorpion, but kid, don't let that stop you. Keep your chin up, keep the fire in your belly, and do what you gotta do. Um…that was kinda all I had, listen, Percy, I can imagine that you're not my biggest fan, but I want you to know that I and a lot of us here on Olympus believe that you will do the right thing. So, uh, listen to your heart, follow your dreams, and absolutely do_ not _let that Ares girl go alone into the Sea of Monsters. She'll be murdered dead faster than you can say 'like a bitch'._

 _With much faith,_

 _H.R"_

"Wait, did you add the signature at the end?"

" _No, he genuinely made a Flash reference."_

"But that's the worst season!"

" _You aren't even done with it! You just got past the musical episode!"_

"And what's the 'R' in the signature for Hermes?"

" _I don't know, maybe he uses a pen name for his deliveries?"_

"Maybe…also, what the hell am I supposed to do with this?" Percy wondered, waving the paper uselessly. "This doesn't help me."

Finding no better place for it, Percy stuffed the note in his back pocket and then ripped open the package. Inside were three little bags. One contained about twenty golden drachma, around three-hundred bucks, and maybe three sets of clothes. The second one contained enough ambrosia to last a demigod at least a month out of camp as well as a pack of weird multivitamins and, strangely enough, a stick of wax, and the third bag was a death trap, or at least that's how it seemed to Percy. When he opened it up, it let out a force so powerful that, when the force was pointed upwards, it wrenched the bag out of Percy's hands and down into the ground, making a small crater in the sand. Thankfully, upon impact, the bag closed once again.

"Okay, so remind me never to open up _that_ one," Percy said as he took the box with the bags from Tyson. He still wasn't quite sure what to do with them. He was told to go with Clarisse, but she already decided not to take companions and after the decision is made, it couldn't exactly be just switched, not that Clarisse would let Percy along anyway. He sighed, and looked at Tyson. "I think this only made me even more confused."

 **Author's Note:**

 **Okay, so it isn't as long as the last one, but that one was too long. I think this is a nice length, maybe a bit longer. Anyway, next time, we're FINALLY leaving Camp Half-Blood. I swear, for a book about adventure, it sure takes it a helluva long time to get to the adventure.**

 **No music today, but let me know what you guys think in a review!**


	18. Back-up To The Back-up

A few days passed with no word from Clarisse. Percy tried to get his mind off of the quest, but it just wouldn't happen. Not that he liked to admit it, but she was a real help against the constant monster attacks. Her absence both marked a spike in difficulty for Percy and the other campers, but it also reminded Percy of the quest that he felt he should've been on.

Eventually, Percy just couldn't take it.

Three days after Clarisse left, he decided to sneak out and join her. He didn't really care that much about repercussions; he figured they'd always like help against monsters. He figured he could just slip out on a Pegasus, and catch up to Clarisse in like a day. She couldn't have gotten far, right? If he had to, he could even Iris-Message her to see her surroundings and find out where she was. However, his plan was foiled by Silena, who was at the stables, like, 24/7. "Mr. D is going to kill you," Silena had claimed.

"Mr. D doesn't have to know, now does he?" Percy had argued. "Come on, you stuck up for me going on this quest. Why not help me out?"

"Sorry, Percy," she had said, actually a bit understanding. "But I'm not letting you take one of the Pegasi unless it's on the books."

Okay, so that plan was out. Luckily, Percy had a back-up. He was always good at canoeing, and with his control of water, he could propel himself almost as fast as a Pegasus could fly. The key was control.

He, of course, had a way of making sure he wasn't found out. " _You fluffed a pillow…it's fucking full-proof,"_ Riptide mocked him.

"No, idiot," Percy said.

" _Hey!"_

"I had Beckendorf have someone from the Hephaestus cabin whip up an automaton that looks like me. I only hope they can find something that looks like skin, or maybe put a Mist veil over it…otherwise…it might be kind of obvious."

" _Ooh, I can tell you've really thought it through."_

"I'm gonna choose to ignore the sarcasm in your voice," Percy said, getting the three bags that Hermes had given him and placing them onto the boat.

"Percy!" a voice called his name. He turned to see Tyson.

"Yeah, what is it?" Percy was eager to send the Cyclops off. "I'm kinda in a hurry."

"Hurry? Why are you in a hurry?"

"I, uh…" Percy tried to quickly come up with an excuse. "Well, I started late getting here, so I want to get out to the water as fast as possible, to make up for lost time."

"Lost time? I do not understand."

"What? Look, it's just I want to- never mind," Percy stopped trying to explain before he even started.

"Why do you have bags? Are they the ones from that night, from Mister H.R.?" Tyson wondered.

" _Hey man, I don't want to rush you, but you've got a finite amount of time before a wood nymph catches on and tells someone."_

Percy sighed, and pulled Tyson close, whispering into his ear. "Listen, I'm going after Clarisse, to back her up."

"You are sneaking out?"

"Yes."

"Then I will go with you!" Tyson exclaimed proudly.

"Uh, no, you won't," Percy said. "It's too dangerous."

" _He definitely saved your ass once or twice."_

"Shut up, Riptide," Percy said off-handedly. "Tyson…" he was giving Percy the saddest eyes. "Well…I suppose…"

"Yay!"

"But!" Percy interrupted his celebration. "You've got to be quiet about it, alright? Now, just climb aboard and I'll get us going."

Tyson obeyed and didn't talk, clearly excited. It probably didn't even occur to him that he was breaking the rules. Once both of them and the supplies were secured in the boat, Percy pushed them off, and quickly picked up speed until they were out into the ocean. Somehow, he managed to have complete awareness of where he was going and where he was at any given time. And because of that, he also knew that, given both of their weights, the boat should be moving faster than it was.

Percy suspected one particularly annoying Athena kid right away, reaching for every inch on the boat to see if he could catch her. "Hey, Tyson," he said mid-way through the day.

"Yes?"

"You ever wonder if Annabeth realizes how dumb she is?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, she may try to hide it, being an Athena kid and all. But come on, she's a typical California blonde bimbo, am I right?" Percy mocked the girl, waiting for a reaction.

"Um…I do not understand. Is Annabeth a blonde?"

"A stereotypical one, yeah," he further insulted her.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Well, _I_ may not think so, but if she wants to be taken seriously…"

The conversation stagnated at that point. Then Percy got another idea. "Oh jeez, uh…Tyson, you uh…got a little…" he gestured behind the Cyclops.

"A what?"

"It's nothing, just a…spider."

"Ah! Where?!" they both heard screaming coming from behind Tyson. "Get it away-whoa, oh!" the boat lurched a bit, and then there was a splash at its side. Instantly, Annabeth's invisibility cap fell off and floated away, leaving her visible and visibly pissed off.

"You little stowaway!" Percy gritted his teeth in anger. "What the hell are you even doing here?!"

Annabeth tried to ignore him by reaching for her cap, but Percy made it float just out of her reach. "Give it back!"

"Why should I?" Percy wondered. She reached for it again, but he pulled it further away in the waves.

"Percy!"

"Hey, Tyson, did you hear something? Or is that my imagination?" he slid it away from her reach again.

"I'm gonna kill you!" she claimed.

"Uh-huh," Percy said, lifting her up in the water, and letting her step back into the boat. He quickly retrieved her hat. She reached for it. "Ah-ah, what's the magic word?" he mocked. She snatched it from his hand.

"Asshole," she stuffed it in her pocket and sat down. "Well? Hurry up!" she demanded.

"Eh? And where do you get off ordering me around?" Percy questioned.

"Are you really gonna argue right now? Clarisse has a two-day lead on us!"

"No, she has a lead on _me_ ; you're not part of it. You're getting off at the next harbor and going back to camp!"

"Well then maybe I'll tell Chiron where you went. I'm sure he'll be ecstatic to hear you've broken the rules so thoroughly. He might actually be proud."

"Ugh!" Percy turned back to the front and got them moving again. "You're impossible!"

Annabeth faced the back, curling into a ball. "Pft, serves you right for calling me dumb…" she said. Percy wouldn't admit it right then, but he did feel sorry for making that comment. It was unnecessary and he could tell it really hurt her. After all, she probably had been fighting off that stereotype all her life.

Meanwhile, Tyson was left in the middle of them. Percy half-expected him to try and convince them to be friends, but it seemed even he could feel the tension in the air.

Good for him, then, that they wouldn't be silent for much longer. Within another half hour of travelling, they saw a cruise liner appear on the horizon. Percy was going to just avoid it, but as they were about the pass it the waves stopped responding to him. In fact, they directed them toward the cruise ship, which had text on the side that read Princess Andromeda…or at least that's what Riptide said.

"Why are we going toward that ship?" Annabeth questioned.

"Uh…I don't know," Percy admitted.

"You're controlling where we go," she reminded him.

"Oh wow, I never would've figured _that_ out," he said. She lowered her eyebrows into an unamused scowl.

" _I really wish you two would stop acting like children."_

"Shut up, Riptide…"

"I smell something wrong with that big boat," Tyson said to the two, getting things back on track.

"Monsters?" Percy wondered.

"Well, if satyrs can sniff out monsters, why not Cyclopes?" Annabeth offered. Again, they wouldn't have to wait long to find out, as a group of them peered over the edge, with arrows aimed straight at the trio.

Soon, their boat was tied to run alongside the cruise liner, and the three that were on it were being led to a sort of main room. Once they were there, they were left alone. Only one other person was in the room, and the three weren't even unarmed. If it wasn't Luke that was in the room, Percy would think they were idiots. He was slouched over a golden…thing. It looked almost like a table, but it had multiple etchings of Greek heroes being maimed or dismembered or otherwise killed in a horrible way; not exactly things you want on a coffee table in the living room. When he noticed their presence, he turned around and outstretched his arms. "Hey there!" Luke greeted them, surprisingly cheery. "What brings you to my humble abode?"

"Humble?" Annabeth almost laughed. "Since when did you get a cruise ship?"

"Oh, that," Luke pat the thing he was standing next to. "Was because of this guy," he claimed. "You know what it is?" he wondered.

Percy looked to Annabeth; she'd probably know. "That's a sarcophagus…for Kronos."

"Very good, Annabeth," Luke complimented. "You always were the smart one," he walked over to a couch and plopped down, propping his legs on the table in front of him. His three guests remained on edge. "Yes, Kronos has given me all of this. I gotta tell you, I haven't been attacked by monsters even once since I switched sides, you know? And for a demigod, that's, like, huge!"

Percy was jealous, especially given all of the monster attacks on camp. Luke can just wander this ship full of them, and they're probably scared of him or worship him. "Don't listen to him," Annabeth said. "He's just trying to trick us."

"Oh no, Annabeth, you've got it wrong," Luke stood, and walked over to them. "I'm not tricking you," he leaned down to be eye-level with her. Her face heated up. "I'm offering you to join me, just like I did before. It still stands."

His voice and his words were so tempting, to both demigods. Each of them wanted so badly to join. Percy decided to follow Annabeth's lead, like he did a year ago. Annabeth wasn't too sure of her choice, but she stuck by it. "And our offer still stands too," she said, her voice shaking like a leaf. "Come home, Luke. Chiron will forgive you, things can go back to how they were before."

As she said the words, Luke's laid-back face shifted. His smirk curled down into a deep-seated frown, and his eyes glazed over in melancholy. "How they were?" he wondered, stepping away from them. "Don't you get it? That was the problem. 'How things were' was wrong; it still is!" he claimed. "The gods neglect us, you know that! They leave us to fend for ourselves!"

"Like you did for camp when you poisoned Thalia's tree!" Percy accused.

"How could you, Luke?" Annabeth joined in. "Thalia was your friend! That tree is all that's left of her!"

"Exactly!" Luke exclaimed. "The gods cursed her to live forever within that magical tree. She can no longer live her life, just give it up to protect a camp full of nobodies whose parents don't really care about them! If you ask me, I did her a kindness. Now, she can just die and wander the Fields of Asphodel, or if she's lucky, Elysium," he argued. "And besides, what about you, Annabeth?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Are you not the one betraying Thalia's memory? Adventuring around with a Cyclops, a _monster_ …now _that's_ pathetic."

"Leave Tyson out of this," Percy tried to look intimidating, but compared to Luke, he must've looked like a toddler.

"Or what?" Luke challenged. "You know, on that subject, do you really think Thalia would be on your side?" he wondered.

"This is just another stupid trick," Percy guessed.

"I wasn't talking to you," Luke said it so dangerously that it made Percy shut up. "Think about it, Annabeth. She hated her father; he never answered her prayers, never aided her in battle. She was left alone before she found you and I. Do you think, if she were to wake up right now, that she wouldn't join me? Face it, Annabeth; Thalia would be as willing to join me as Percy was, only she wouldn't be stupid enough to be persuaded by the whims of a brainwashed girl."

Percy wanted to argue against that, but it was true. He _had_ been willing to join him, and he wanted to do it. In the moment, it looked like Annabeth wanted to as well. "You're lying!" Annabeth cried. "Percy would never…Thalia wouldn't…" she couldn't even finish those statements. She backed up a few steps, trying to hide her face from the others.

Tyson then stepped forward, protecting both of the demigods.

"Leave my friends alone," he warned.

Luke actually laughed then. "Haha! That's more golden than Kronos! The monster _actually_ believes it can have friends!" he cackled. Tyson's rage burst out then. He charged at the demigod, but his attack was clumsy. Luke easily side-stepped him, and then brought his knee into Tyson's stomach. The Cyclops keeled over.

" _Hey, he shouldn't have gone down so fast,"_ Riptide claimed.

The sword was right; no normal demigod could take out a Cyclops in just one blow like that. Luke must've seen the astonishment on Percy's and Annabeth's faces. "Ah, right, I never explained. With every passing day, with every new ally I gain, Kronos shares with me some of his growing power. With each day, I grow stronger. I wonder if you can keep up," he said, grinning, daring either of them to attack. "Go ahead, try and fight me."

For a second Percy thought that if he and Annabeth fought together, they might win. However, one look at the girl's shaking knees told him otherwise. Percy could sympathize; he didn't exactly want to fight Luke either. He was their friend and he'd known Annabeth longer than anyone. How could they fight him? Not to mention, he was probably still better at fighting than both of them combined, so there's that as well.

" _You got a plan?"_

The truth was that Percy didn't. He had no assets in this confrontation. He couldn't overpower Luke, he had one ally already on the ground and he didn't even know if the other would be willing to fight to escape. "So what was the point of bringing us to your ship?" he questioned, trying to buy time.

"Eh?" the question seemed to confused Luke. "We didn't bring you here; you came here on your own."

" _Okay, valuable information; the guy doesn't have monsters to control water better than you."_

" _Good to know…"_ Percy didn't actually see how that was helpful in the moment.

"I mean, don't get me wrong; I knew you were leaving Camp Half-Blood and that someone is already on their way to get the Golden Fleece, but as for capturing you guys aboard my ship? That was unplanned."

"How did you know we were coming this way?"

"Because, Percy, your campers aren't as loyal as you think they are to the Olympians," he claimed. "I have eyes and ears everywhere at Camp Half-Blood."

"Oh yeah? How many?"

"Well, about a dozen and a half on the ship, along with the monsters, and six at camp," Luke claimed. Percy couldn't tell if he was lying or not; he probably was overestimating at least one of those numbers. Or at least Percy hoped so.

Thankfully, Tyson woke up then, having only blacked out for a few moments. Luke had advanced on them a bit, leaving Tyson behind him. The Cyclops charged at Luke again, at least managing to push him out of the way a bit, allowing the three time to escape.

They leapt onto the main deck and toward the back of the ship where their boat was. They were surrounded on all sides by monsters who looked too dumbfounded to attack. "Seize them!" or at least until they heard that from Luke.

Thankfully, by that point, they'd already made it two-thirds of the way across the ship. Once Percy drew Riptide and slashed through a couple of monsters, the others backed away long enough for them to leap onto the boat. "Open the bag that says 'wind'!" Percy yelled, deflecting oncoming arrows.

"You kidding? I can't read that fast!" Annabeth exclaimed. Tyson, however, could, and opened it up facing toward the ship, blasting them off, and even in the right direction.

Soon, they were being propelled south by wind from a little sack at about ninety miles an hour.

 **Author's Note:**

 **And there's another chapter! I know this one may seem a bit...underwhelming. I mean, it's just basically what happened in the book. Fun fact, though: I was actually going to skip this visit to the Princess Andromeda entirely. Only when I realized how important it was to set up the golden sarcophagus and all of that, plus it adds a nice confrontation with Luke, which is always needed.**

 **Anyway, let me know what you guys think in a review!**

 **EDIT: So sorry, but I probably won't be able to add chapter 19 and beyond until the site stops fucking up. I go to upload a document to the site from my computer and it gives me error type 2. I can't find a solution currently, so I just have to wait for the admins to fix it. So sorry again.**


	19. You Must Be The Other Guy

It wasn't long at all before the Princess Andromeda was out of sight. A while after that, everyone elected to find a safe place to get some shut-eye. "Go into Chesapeake Bay," Annabeth said. "I know a place," she claimed. Pretty soon, the water started to close in on them, indicating that they were now travelling within a river. The change from salt to fresh water really took its toll on Percy, almost like he was coming down from a sugar high. "There, in that swampy area."

Percy perched the boat on a sandbank and they quickly hid it with sticks and leaves so as to not arouse suspicion. Then they had to wade through mud that came up to their ankles with each step. Bugs swarmed around them, being attracted by the sweat glistening on their bodies. Percy was reminded of his first quest, where he and his companions were grimy and disgusting basically from the word "go", at least until they got to the Lotus Casino.

"Jeez, haven't thought about that in a while," Percy said out loud.

"What?" Annabeth wondered.

"The Lotus Hotel, from last year," he answered. "Remember?"

"Yeah, it was a nightmare," she returned.

"I don't know, you looked like you were having fun. Kinda felt bad for dragging you out."

Annabeth shot him an unimpressed look like he was an idiot. "That's because it was _made_ to do that, Percy. It was made to trap people for eternity, remember?"

Tyson just looked confused. "What is this Lotus Hotel?" he wondered.

"Oh, right. It's this place in Las Vegas and is basically made of magic. We spent maybe a few hours in there and in the real world five days had passed," Percy explained briefly.

"Then why did you go in there?"

"Because we…" Percy thought about it. "Huh, I don't know."

"I think it was because we were exhausted and weren't thinking clearly," Annabeth offered.

"Yeah, that must be it."

"Here," Annabeth gestured to a bundle of twigs. When she tugged, Percy saw that it acted as a door. It led into a space just big enough for supplies and three people, which was perfect for Percy's group. It smelled of must, leaves, and rotten eggs, which wasn't great, but it was something other than salty air, which is what they'd been breathing for over a day straight. "Go ahead and make yourself at home," she said. She had her back turned and her movements were strained; she was clearly taking their conversation with Luke pretty hard.

" _Yo, you should try and talk to her,"_ Riptide suggested.

" _Yeah, and get yelled at again? No thanks."_

 _"_ _At least try,"_ the sword persisted. " _So you can say you did."_

Percy turned away from the girl indignantly. " _Just go come up with more quotes and stay out of my life, would you?"_

 _"_ _Whatever, man."_

Percy sighed. He knew he _should_ talk to her, but what was gonna happen? There was gonna be a misunderstanding, and then one of them would say something they shouldn't and then they'd get mad all over again. Percy knew that was what was gonna happen.

He saw Tyson clutching his trident necklace. For some reason, it no longer made Percy mad, just melancholic. The Cyclops was muttering something. "Hey, Tyson," he got the guy's attention. "What's wrong?"

For once, he didn't seem eager to talk to Percy. "Well, I do not…"

"…Something private?" Percy guessed.

"N-no…but it has to do with daddy…" he said cautiously. Both Percy and Annabeth tensed. Secretly, Annabeth was hoping Percy might tell them what happened with Poseidon on Olympus…but she knew that he wouldn't. Percy wanted to get mad at Tyson, but he forced himself not to.

"Okay, what is it?"

Tyson looked surprised that Percy wanted to know. "It is…something that was written into the wall of the cabin," he explained. "I do not know what it means, but it felt important."

"So you memorized it?" Percy said.

" _Didn't know he had it in him,"_ Riptide teased.

"'You are the force that splits the sea'," Tyson recited. "I…do not know what it means…"

Percy shrugged. "I don't know; maybe a motto that older kids of Poseidon used to say, back when he used to have them more regularly," he offered, not really thinking much of it. He now had this image of children of Poseidon storming the beaches of Normandy shouting that phrase. "Maybe it was a battle cry, to give them strength."

Tyson smiled. The explanation seemed to please him. "Give them strength!" he repeated. "With it, I can be the strongest Cyclops!" he claimed. The mention of what he was made Annabeth flinch. Percy took notice of this.

Percy chuckled nervously. "Let's…not get ahead of ourselves, big guy. Hey, why don't you go scout around a bit? Maybe look for fresh food?"

"Fresh food?"

"Yeah, but don't go too far. We need to get moving as soon as we're rested, alright?"

"Right!" he exclaimed, standing and exiting the hideout. That left Annabeth and Percy alone, with all of the baggage that Luke left them with.

"Hey, Annabeth…" Percy started, not really feeling too sure.

"Tell me that Luke was wrong," Annabeth said quietly. "Tell me that you wouldn't have joined him."

He was going to lie, but something told him that she'd be able to see through it. And that would make her even angrier at him. "I…can't…" he admitted. "But, I mean…" he couldn't really find a positive spin on it.

Annabeth finally turned to face him. Her eyes were blotchy from tears that she'd been silently shedding. Percy could only stare; he'd _never_ seen her look so…un-Annabeth-like. She was head-strong, intelligent, calculating. The girl that he was staring at now was vulnerable. "…you remind me of Thalia," she said suddenly. "A lot."

"O-oh, really? In what way?"

She sniffed. "You're both…totally arrogant and selfish. You want all the glory for yourself. But you're both strong, and you both have a willingness to do what needs to be done."

Percy felt heat rush to his cheeks; he wasn't used to getting compliments, especially from Annabeth. He tried to hide his embarrassment. "Oh, well, t-thanks, I guess…"

"It wasn't a compliment," Annabeth claimed.

" _It sounded like one…almost."_

"She was better at it than you," Annabeth claimed. "And she wasn't as secretive."

"Oh, and we're back to this," Percy said, not even surprised. "Look, I'm just gonna stop you there, because I don't want to get into another argument."

"It doesn't _have_ to be an argument," Annabeth claimed. "If you'd just be honest."

"I _am_ being honest with you, Dulleyes," he insulted her with the name, getting her to keep her mouth shut. "By saying that I don't want to talk about it."

Annabeth looked like she was about to push the issue further, but then Tyson came back, carrying an arm-full of doughnut boxes. "Friends! I have found enough food for us all!"

Annabeth and Percy both blinked, shocked. "Tyson, where did you find those?"

"Off of the ground?" Annabeth wondered. "No, they're too clean…"

"Monster Doughnut!" Tyson pointed out, and sure enough, there was a Monster Doughnut shop about fifty feet from their hideout.

"Shit! We've been stuffed out!" Annabeth claimed, gathering as many supplies as could fit in the two bags that didn't contain wind. Meanwhile, Percy and Tyson were left confused.

"What? What's happening?"

"Monster Doughnut is happening!" Annabeth said if it would explain everything. When Percy still looked confused, she quickly explained further. "These types of shops pop up when a monster appears. It's to lure demigods into a-" she cut off abruptly.

"What?" Percy persisted, but she covered his mouth. He understood as soon as he heard the gurgling outside; a monster had come to scout out their camp. All three of them were silent, hoping that it would simply pass them by.

It didn't.

They got the message when droplets came from the ceiling and started burning through the supplies. Thankfully, none of their bags got acid on them, but it was clear that whatever was out was going to acidify them until they died. "Then we fight," Percy whispered, drawing Riptide. He burst out, seeing a many-headed monstrosity that spewed acid. He went to work, avoiding its snapping jaws and severing heads left and right. He kept hacking and slashing until the body stopped moving. He took a deep breath. "Well…that was easier than I thought it'd be," he admitted. Annabeth quickly pulled him away from the carcass.

"You idiot!" she snapped. "Do you have any idea what you just did?!"

"Yeah, I killed it; what'd you do? Cower away in your hidey-hole?"

" _I'm the guy who does his job; you must the other guy."_

" _Damn, should've used that one…"_ Percy thought to himself after-the-fact.

"You didn't kill anything, you just made our situation twice as bad!" she claimed. As she explained, the body began moving again. "That is a Hydra. Hydras can regrow their heads after they've been cut off; for every one severed, two more grow back, which means…" in her explanation, she hadn't even focused on stopping this problem. The Hydra was back. Annabeth silently cursed herself for being blinded by her frustration again.

The Hydra was back, twice as strong, and extremely pissed off. Before either of the demigods could run away, a massive shot of acid came from one of the center heads. Annabeth tried to raise a shield that wasn't there, not that it would've done any good anyway, before Percy instinctively raised a wall of water from the swamp to absorb the deadly liquid.

Annabeth quickly pushed him away. "I didn't need your help!" she claimed.

"Really? Because it _definitely_ looked it!" Percy snapped back.

" _Now's not the time!"_ Riptide yelled in Percy's head, right as he rolled to avoid two Hydra heads snapped at him.

"Friends should not fight right now!" Tyson agreed with the sword, not that he could hear it. "There is something important going on!"

Percy let out a growl. "Gah! Fine, how did this thing die in myth?" he questioned.

"Oh, so _now_ you want my help?"

"Annabeth!"

"Hercules burned the stumps after he cut off the heads; that way it couldn't regrow," she explained, diving behind a thicket to hide for a moment.

"That doesn't- whoa!" Percy narrowly avoided a spray of acid, with some of it catching on his clothes. He was about to say that that didn't really help them.

"Give me your sword, I can make a spark with my dagger!" she offered.

"What? No, give me your dagger, I'll make the spark," Percy returned. He didn't want just anyone wielding Riptide. Unfortunately, Annabeth didn't want _anyone_ touching her dagger.

Before they could argue further, something loud exploded. All three covered their ears, only to hear a duller explosion hit the Hydra, and then another, and then another, until it exploded into dust. Pretty soon, a big metal Civil War ship came rolling in. On the side, Riptide translated is as the CSS Birmingham. On its starboard, Percy's _favorite_ person was perched, her eyes glinting because she knew she could gloat over this.

"Well, if it isn't the rule-breakers," Clarisse mocked. "Come aboard and consider this a rescue."

xxxXXXxxx

So, as it turns out, every losing side of every war that has ever happened has paid tribute to Ares, the god of war…go figure. Thus, as Clarisse was Ares' daughter, she was able to control this Confederate ship along with all of its crew members.

"You're so dead," Clarisse claimed over dinner. "Mr. D Iris-Messaged me and told me that you three snuck out."

"Yeah, and?" Percy wondered, uninterested.

"And, he says that if you ever go back to camp, he's gonna turn you all into grapes," she said, grinning at the thought. "I'm tempted to send you back right now."

"I'm sure you are," Percy said, once again uninterested. Clarisse shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

"Hey, what's with you guys? You all seem so…" she took another look at them. "Dead."

"We were just attacked," was Tyson's excuse.

"And? That happens all of the time, especially recently," Clarisse claimed.

Percy took a deep breath. "Luke is on his way to the Golden Fleece too. He probably wants it for himself."

"So? We'll just blow him right into the depths of the ocean!" Clarisse exclaimed, raising her fist high and starting a rave in the dead Confederates.

"Clarisse," Annabeth got her attention. "Luke is better than you, better than all of us. He has an army of monsters and a few dozen rogue demigods backing him up. Not to mention he's growing stronger because of Kronos' power every day."

"So? His ship isn't getting any stronger, and last time I checked, he can't breathe underwater once I sink him!" Clarisse remained adamant. The trio stayed quiet, not wanting to argue after a long day. "Bah! Fine, all of you get some sleep in the hold."

xxxXXXxxx

Percy found it surprisingly impossible to fall asleep. At first he thought it might have been because of the rock and tug of the ship on the waves, but being a child of Poseidon, it shouldn't have bothered him. Then again, he wasn't claimed, so…

Anyway, the point is that he stayed up basically the entire night talking to Riptide. " _No, I'm not watching it,"_ Percy thought.

" _But man, Rosemary's Baby is a_ good _movie!"_ Riptide insisted. " _Just give it a chance."_

 _"_ _No, I don't do horror; I get enough of that in my normal life."_

 _"_ _But Percy!"_ the sword whined. _"What if I watch it with you?"_

 _"_ _You_ always _watch things with me; you literally can't not watch things when I watch them."_

 _"_ _But dude, be real for a second; you don't get to deal with that kind of horror in your life. It deals with-"_

 _"_ _I don't care,"_ Percy thought. " _And I don't want any more horror; that is final."_

Riptide was about to argue further, but then Annabeth burst up from her sleep with a gasp. She had to take several deep breaths before she calmed down. "…Bad dream?" Percy guessed. She nodded.

"Another vision from Grover," she claimed. "Part of our empathy link."

"What happened? Is he in trouble?"

"A lot," Annabeth claimed. "Maybe three days left until…"

"Until what?" Percy wondered.

"Well…until he either gets found out and eaten or…until he gets married…"

Percy wasn't sure if he heard that right. "Married?"

Annabeth nodded. "To Polyphemus the Cyclops."

Percy shuttered just thinking about it. "We'll make it," Percy sounded like he more assuring himself. "Until then…we should try and get as much rest as possible," he said, even as he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep since they left camp. It'd been nearly 36 hours now, plus whatever time he spent at camp before they left. And yet, Percy was still filled with energy; he chalked it up to him being in such close contact with the water.

The two sat in silence, both expecting the other to go to sleep. "Percy…" Annabeth started.

"Hm?"

"I just…wanted to say, while we have some time, and-"

Suddenly the ship lurched violently, knocking both of them out of their make-shift beds. Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson ran up to the deck to see mass chaos. A massive storm was raging overhead, sending waves crashing against the ship with the force of a train. The ship, from what Percy could see, was heading straight in-between a whirlpool and a massive cliff.

"Oh gods…" Annabeth muttered. "Charybdis and Scylla."

"Bad water monsters," Tyson translated surprisingly accurately. Clarisse was busy yelling at the Confederates on deck to ready weapons and work the engine, but she was way in over her head. Like, she was up against a giant mouth and a tentacle monster on a cliff, so…her odds were never going to be the greatest.

"Can you get us through?" Annabeth questioned. Percy nodded, trying to feel the tug at his gut like normal, but it wouldn't come. He made his way to the edge of the boat, and tried to will the waves to stop crashing against the CSS Birmingham, but they wouldn't respond.

"Percy lost his powers?" Tyson wondered.

"No," Annabeth reasoned. "The Sea of Monsters is out of Poseidon's domain. Even if Percy was claimed, I doubt he'd be able to do anything here."

"Well, great. _Now_ I feel helpful."

 _"_ _You are about the worst tourist in the whole world."_

As the ship drew closer, Tyson became more worried. "Engine will not make it," he reasoned. "It will overheat before we make it through."

"What?" Clarisse overheard him. "Can we fix it?" Tyson nodded. "Then go!"

"I'll go too, give an extra set of hands," Percy said, jogging after Tyson into the ship.

The engine room was fucking hot, to give an understatement. Right as soon as Percy walked in, he was almost put into shock from the change in temperature, but he held fast. Tyson didn't seem at all bothered by it, and Percy wasn't about to be outdone by him that easily. Tyson quickly told Percy what to do and then did his work faster than Percy did his. Tyson's instructions were surprisingly articulate and Percy understood exactly what he needed to do. "Need water," Tyson said. "To cool pipes."

"Water? We don't have water," Percy claimed, starting to get light-headed from the heat. "You saw; I can't control the water out there."

"We need water!" Tyson repeated, his voice getting more forceful.

"But I can't _give_ you water!" Percy repeated.

"Make it!" Tyson exclaimed.

"What?" Percy questioned. "You think it's that easy?"

"I think you can do it," Tyson said. "I know you can do it, because you are my brother."

"Your…brother?" Percy repeated. He'd never been called that by anyone. "But I wasn't…claimed," he felt ashamed just saying it.

"It does not matter to me. You are my brother, and you can do anything," Tyson assured. "You are the force that splits the sea."

Percy was almost going to laugh. He felt a strange mixture of sadness and unbridled joy that he wasn't sure how to react, but the situation didn't call for any kind of emotional outburst. His attention was focused back to the task at hand when the ship lurched from being pulled in by Charybdis, with muffled explosions sounding as the CSS Birmingham fired at its mouth.

Percy took a deep breath. "Force that splits the sea, alright…" he tried to focus, to calm his thoughts. He tried to focus on one single thing. Before, against Clarisse and Ares, it had been his loneliness. Now, though, it was…something else. Percy didn't quite know what to call it, and he wasn't sure who is was directed at. In his mind, he felt equal parts Annabeth, Tyson, and Poseidon; the three people that Percy felt most strongly about at the time.

And then, there it was; the tug at his gut. He reacted to it, channeling all of his willpower and emotion into his arms, trying to force them to create water from nothing. Immediately, Percy's whole body violently rejected the idea. It began to burn uncontrollably, especially his arms, which he was channeling his energy through, so to speak. Percy let out a cry of agony, but continued willing the liquid to be created, and it worked. At first it was just droplets that immediately evaporated in the heat, but then streams and then jets of water.

" _Dude! You can create water!"_ Riptide exclaimed giddily.

But soon, Percy couldn't take it. The water stopped being created, and Percy collapsed onto his knees. "Not enough!" Tyson exclaimed. He wasn't mad at Percy, just desperate.

"I-I…can't," Percy's whole body was shaking and his arms felt like they just benched and then curled a thousand tons; both numb and on fire. Tyson immediately adapted. He forced Percy to his feet, and pushed him out of the door, sealing it behind him. "H-hey! Open up! We need to-"

"It is alright," Tyson assured him through the door, still working on the engine. "This heat-" a fire burst out from the pipe. "This fire," he corrected. "Is nothing to me. I will be alright. Quickly, go back up to-" before he could finish his sentence, the whole engine blew. The force blasted Percy back, into the stairs that led to the deck. He hit his head on them, but managed not to black out. Then a wave of water crash over the deck and splashed onto him. Unlike normal water, this Sea of Monsters water didn't do anything for Percy. He managed to stand and hobble his way above deck, just in time to see like six big-ass boulders fall from the cliff and into the ship, as well as a round from the cannon bounce off of Charybdis' tooth and puncture a hole into the ship's side.

" _Oh-ho, man. You're all totally fucked right now,"_ Riptide mocked, and Percy knew it too. He just barely managed to reach Annabeth before the engine really blew, and that was when Percy was knocked out.

The last thing he remembered seeing was Annabeth swimming toward him, a giant tooth being about thirty meters behind her.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Okay, I found a solution of just copy-pasting the document, which seems to work. Fanfiction really needs to fix uploading documents though.**

 **Anyway, today was supposed to be my super-productive day and all...but then I saw Red Dead Redemption in my drawer and thought "hey, I haven't finished that. Let's play it all day! It's not like I need to write or anything!"...thus is my life. Whatever, I've got like...two more chapters in standby and only like two more to go in Sea of Monsters after that, so I'll be fine.**

 **Anywho, let me know what you think of the chapter in a review!**


	20. Love All, But Trust A Few

The next time Percy awoke, everything was surprisingly…calm. It disturbed Percy enough to wake him. When he opened his eyes, he immediately had to close them due to the harsh sunlight beating down on him. He sat up slowly, his whole body still sore from having to summon water from nothing. " _Remind me never to do that again,"_ Percy thought.

" _Knowing you're luck, you'll have to do it again before the end of the week,"_ Riptide returned, sounding tired as well, though for a sword, that shouldn't have been possible.

Percy found himself on a small rowboat with two rough oars. Except it couldn't have been a rowboat; there was a mast on it. So imagine a cross between a small sailboat and a rowboat, and that's what he was in. Across from him was Annabeth, gently sleeping across from him. " _Also remind me to thank her."_

 _"_ _Why?"_

 _"_ _Because she's probably the one who saved my life."_

 _"_ _To be fair, she's done it before,"_ Riptide claimed. " _Can you make this thing work?"_

"You mean can I row?" Percy muttered. "Not with how bad my arms feel…"

Even as he said it, the oars began to move themselves, as if reacting to Percy's whims. Apparently, Percy was able to control any boat telepathically so long as it wasn't under the jurisdiction of another god. Lucky him. He got the small boat to head toward Polyphemus' island, at the coordinates Annabeth had said.

Before too long, Annabeth awoke. She was groggy, and she didn't handle the lull of the waves as well as Percy could. "Ooh…" she held her stomach.

"Sorry, not much I can do about it," Percy said, genuinely sorry that she wasn't feeling well. She glanced at him, but didn't say anything. "You're still mad at me…" Percy lamented. "Whatever. What supplies do we have?"

"No wind," she said, holding up the empty bag. "But I salvaged the other two bags, though most of the drachma fell out. We only have one, in case we need to Iris-Message."

"Well, do we?" Percy wondered.

"Well…contacting camp is probably out of the question. Mr. D will probably make good on his threat through the message."

"What about Tyson?" Percy suggested.

"What about him?" Annabeth tried to hide the sadness in her voice. Despite herself, she'd come to care for the Cyclops. "He can take fire, sure, but that was a gigantic explosion right into the mouth of Charybdis. I doubt he…" she didn't finish.

"Then he won't show up in the message, so what? It's worth a try," Percy claimed. After a moment of consideration, Annabeth handed over the drachma. Percy splashed in the water and created a thin mist; the reception would be horrible, but at least they'd be able to see him. "Show us Tyson the Cyclops," Percy called out to it, and flipped the coin into the mist.

Soon, a blurry image appeared, which then became a bit clearer. Tyson was floating in the water, unharmed it seemed (maybe the water healed him?) surrounded by sea creatures both normal and mythical.

"Tyson!" Percy called. He slowly turned his head to the message, and smiled. He looked tired and beaten up. "Oh, thanks the gods you're alive!"

"Brother…" Tyson murmured. "My head is all foggy. I do not know where I am."

"Listen, man, you're in the Sea of Monsters. You gotta find a way to Polyphemus' Island and meet us there. Can you do that?"

As if on cue, a big creature swam up to him; a big water horse thing. " _A Hippocampus,"_ Riptide claimed.

"Rainbow," Tyson named it, before climbing onto it like it was second nature. "Can you take me?" the horse whinnied as if it were scoffing. "I believe I can make it to the island, Percy. Is Annabeth-"

"I'm right here," the daughter of Athena climbed into view. "I'm okay, big guy."

"Glorious!" Tyson exclaimed, seemingly infecting the other sea creatures with his happiness. He then hesitated. "Are you two…friends again?"

The two looked at each other. "We…" Percy didn't know how to answer that, especially given that they had maybe ten seconds before the message disappeared. "We'll let know on the island," Percy said. Tyson nodded and smiled, before wiping the image away.

The two sat back. "I don't know, are we friends?" Annabeth questioned.

"You still haven't told me what's wrong."

"Right back at you."

"So…" Percy was about to ask further, when Annabeth's eyes widened.

"Oh gods, no time!" she claimed, diving for the bags. She opened the one with the multivitamins and the wax, and took out the wax. It was when looking back in hindsight at times like these, that Percy was _really_ glad to have Annabeth along; she thought so fast and reacted so quickly to situations, especially compared to Percy. She hastily cut off pieces of it with her dagger and stuffed those pieces into her ears. She then started to do the same for Percy, but it was too late.

It started out quietly, causing Percy to stand up to hear it better over the waves. The sound was…soothing, as soothing as his mother's presence. In fact…yes, he could almost see her smile. As the sound grew louder, it became literal music to Percy's ears. He wanted so badly to swim over to the island where it was coming from, and after just a few seconds, the craving became a need. Percy was about to jump into the water and swim toward the sound, but then he was tackled down. Annabeth may have been physically weaker than Percy, but she knew how to hold him down despite that.

Percy wrestled against her grip, trying desperately to get free. He _needed_ to get to the sound or he would _die_. "Let me go!" he kept screaming, as well as cursing at her, calling her horrible, horrible names that Percy wished he could take back. Soon, he had a wonderful idea. He willed the boat toward the island. If he couldn't swim to the island, he would sail.

"Percy! Stop!" Annabeth begged, but he could hardly hear her over the music. Percy, to this day, wasn't sure how she did it, but she, through Percy's struggling, got into a position to use her head to stop the rowing motion of one oar and Percy's feet to block the other. Now all that was left was the sail, which she couldn't do anything about. "Percy!" she called again.

" _Okay, okay, things are looking bad,"_ she thought to herself, trying desperately to think of a plan, but in the chaos it was impossible. She'd have to improvise; her least favorite activity. Not to mention, she had _no_ idea what to do, so she did the only thing she could. She shifted again, releasing the oars, but being able to face Percy. He was flat on his back, his arms still pinned to his sides by Annabeth's legs. She covered his ears as best she could with her hands, hoping she had bits of wax on her hands which she was stuffing into his ears by holding her hands there. His struggles were absolutely wild, screaming bloody murder at her, thrashing his feet and hands, trying to reach for Riptide in his pocket.

All of that, Annabeth could handle. Struggle was something she'd dealt with all her life. She'd had to fight for her life numerous times, and this was no different, except that it was. She wasn't fighting a physical threat, but one that threatened Percy's sanity.

The look on his face was what made her desperate to stop this. His face was so pained, so filled with anguish that she wasn't letting him swim to his death. She saw glimpses of what he was seeing, as well as the emotional pain he was going through of not being able to make it a reality.

Percy was standing with Riptide hung lazily on his back. The Minotaur, Medusa, and all of the other monsters he'd fought, lay dead in a pile at his back. He had a carefree look on his face, like he'd done it with no effort and without anyone getting hurt. His mother was standing off to the side, alive and well. Percy could tell why he was so attached to her; she gave off motherly warmth that Annabeth had never known could exist, from either of her mothers. His father, Poseidon, was patting Percy's shoulder, smiling along with him. He had finally accepted Percy, because of his merit, because he was finally strong.

It made her realize she'd underestimated how much pain Percy was in, that he _had_ had a much harder life than her. He not only had to deal with the abandonment of his father, but he had to put up with an abusive step-father who beat him and maybe his mother. Then she went and died right when his life was supposed to get better.

The realization brought tears to Annabeth's eyes, dripping down onto Percy's face. The feeling seemed to break him out of his trance, if only for a few seconds. Annabeth lowered her face, and until their foreheads touched. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…" she repeated over and over, hoping he would understand. "I haven't read all of your letters yet," she blurted out, trying to keep talking to him. "I only read them when I needed to. Whenever my step-mom would say something, would call me a freak, would exclude me from the family, I could always read your letters. They helped me so much, Percy. They reminded me that you existed, that you cared, that I had people to look out for me still, even when Thalia and Luke…" she trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

She didn't even register that Percy had willed the boat to sail past the island, not at it anymore. Both of them were sobbing now, Percy due to the Sirens Song, and Annabeth because of her realization. They must've been doing it for hours, before Percy stopped struggling. 'Safe' he muttered. Annabeth slowly got off of him and took out the wax.

"Please…" she begged. "Percy, I don't want to fight anymore."

He looked to be trying to process everything that happened. Percy was also feeling just the slightest hint of resentment, even though he knew that if she had let him go he would've died. "I…need to know what you want me to tell you," Percy said softly.

"What happened? On Olympus? What are you hiding?"

Percy tensed. He would've rather just yelled again than talk about that. But he knew that that wasn't an option anymore. But the thing was, he still wasn't sure if he could trust her. He hadn't told anyone what happened with his father. " _You know what they say,"_ Riptide said. " _Love all, but trust a few."_

 _"_ _Who says that?"_

 _"_ _I think it was Shakespeare."_

Percy couldn't tell if it was joking or not. Either way, he knew he had to own up. He took a deep breath; every word was forced out, but as he continued, it gradually got easier. "When I went to Olympus, I met with Zeus and Poseidon."

"I knew that."

"I gave Zeus back his Master Bolt and explained what happened, and then he left," Percy continued. "Then I talked to Poseidon, and he…" Percy stopped, finding the words too hard to say. Tears began rolling down his cheeks just thinking about it; all of the pain he should've felt in the moment came out now. "He said…that I didn't deserved to be claimed, and I shouldn't think of him as my father, and that…I was just a brute with a sword, that I only survived because of you and dumb luck," Percy hadn't realized it, but he was shaking. "His words were: I have no need for a son like that."

"Percy…" Annabeth found it hard to sympathize. Even after experiencing what she had with the Sirens affecting him, she couldn't imagine what it must've felt like. "I'm…sorry…"

He chuckled. "You know, before my quest, Luke told me something. He said I was lucky that I didn't know who to be pissed off at. He said that that kind of…anger, resentment when directed at someone, can bring out the worst in a person."

"Well…he's not wrong," Annabeth claimed. "That's why he betrayed the gods, right?"

"Must be," Percy agreed. He looked to Annabeth for approval, any kind really, but he didn't get it. "There's…something else?"

"It's nothing…" Annabeth lied. Her façade quickly broke. "It's just…why did you ask me?"

"Ask you what?"

"When Luke offered for you to join him, why did you ask me?" she didn't dare meet his gaze, for fear of looking angry, which she was. "Do you have any idea how hard it was?"

"I…n-no," Percy admitted; he hadn't even considered it. "I just figured, you know, that you were a lot smarter than me. I thought you'd make the right decision, and-"

"What if I didn't want to make the decision?" Annabeth interrupted. "What if you two were the only really important people in my life and I didn't want to decide whether or not you would have to kill each other? When you asked me if you should stay, Percy, I felt like you were playing a sick joke on me."

"I'm…sorry. I won't do it again," he vowed. "I promise."

"Thank you…"

"Is…that it? Did you want to know anything else?"

Annabeth shook her head. "No, I think…that's it. Thank you," she repeated. "And Percy?"

"Yeah?" he asked. She brought him into a hug.

"Please, don't keep secrets from me. You can trust me, Percy. I promise with all of my heart that you can trust me, okay? You need to keep moving, you can't hung up on…what happened in the past."

"I…promise," Percy said, returning the hug.

 **Author's Note:**

 **So...this seems a lot shorter than other chapters, but it really isn't. I just wanted this specifically to be in one chapter because it's like a big moment for Percy and Annabeth.**

 **Let me know what you guys think of their resolution in a review!**


	21. Glowing Like A Thousand Stars

Around midnight, the two came to a resort. You read right, a resort. There was a whole assortment of different types of craft docked. There was a pirate ship, with the name etched out due to time, there was WWII submarine, among others. "What is this place?" Percy questioned.

"I don't know," Annabeth admitted. "I don't remember any tropical getaways in Greek myths…"

Both being groggy and sore, they decided to hop off. They could only hope that this was just a mortal resort, and they could bluff their way into getting a nice soft bed to sleep on.

Yeah, like _that_ could happen.

" _This is a trap,"_ Riptide claimed.

" _Of course it is,"_ Percy thought back. " _But it doesn't hurt to check it out."_

" _Ha! That's the funniest thing you've ever said."_

The two walked to the front desk, where a bellhop greeted them with a great smile. Well, she tried to make it look great, but her face was just a bit too toned to consider it a winning smile. "Hello, and welcome to C.C.'s Spa and Resort!" she greeted. "My name is Reyna; I'll be your assistant today!"

Annabeth and Percy exchanged a look. "Assistant for what?" Annabeth was the one to ask the question. The girl looked her up and down disapprovingly.

"Oh, that will never do. Please come this way," the girl beckoned to follow. "The Mistress will want to see you personally."

" _This is a trap,"_ Riptide reminded Percy. He stuffed his hand in his pocket and gripped Riptide, just in case he needed to quickly draw it. The bag containing the multivitamins and ambrosia was in Annabeth's back pocket. The further in they got, however, the more the environment and the pleasantness of it all seemed to lull him into a- " _False sense of security. Focus!"_ Riptide snapped, forming and maintaining a small pressure behind Percy's eye just to keep him on track.

Eventually, they came to a larger room; off to one side were pets, it seemed. Small guinea pigs that looked like they hadn't been washed for centuries meandered about in cages. On the far end was a woman awaiting them. Her appearance that of a priestess or otherwise old woman of power, only old wasn't the right word to describe her. She looked quite young in fact, but she gave off this sense of…age. Percy had felt it before, but he couldn't quite pin it down.

"Ah, our new guests," her voice was divine; almost as soothing as the Sirens, but without the imminent danger.

" _Or so you say."_

She stood, and walked toward the two demigods with a sense of purpose. Instantly, the two felt extremely uncomfortable with her staring. It wasn't because of the fact that she was staring, but at the fact that she was staring with disappointment in her eyes, like they'd failed her personal test. Both demigods felt really hurt about it; they wanted to do better.

"Reyna," C.C. said her name, and she jumped.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Find your sister," she gave Annabeth a smile. "Give this young lady a tour, show her what we have to offer. Fix her up a bit?"

"Fix?" Annabeth looked hurt. "W-what's wrong with me?"

"Oh, just the hair: it needs work, and you're both so dirty from travel, no doubt. You both are truly wasting your true potential!" she claimed, and they believed her. The pressure behind Percy's eye intensified, but he ignored it. Annabeth let herself be lead off by Reyna, leaving Percy alone with C.C.

"What can we do?"

"Oh, right this way," she led the boy to her chair, which sat in front of a mirror. Percy sat down and the tension immediately drained from his body. All of the fatigue that he should've experienced throughout the journey was taking its toll here. He could've fallen asleep and never woken up again, but C.C. kept him awake.

"Here, child. Gaze into my mirror, and you will see the window into your deepest desire, into your own soul," she claimed. When Percy looked, he only saw himself. After a moment, the image blurred and soon morphed back into Percy, but it was different.

He was a little older, maybe eighteen. He was absolutely ripped, with Riptide in his hand. His face wasn't quite as round, as he had presumably grown out of it. He looked far more capable than Percy thought himself to be now. He was envious of this other Percy. "Can you make me look like that?" he wondered.

"I can…" C.C. claimed. "Stay still, child, as I transform you into what you are in the deepest recesses of your heart!" she sounded almost mythical when she spoke. Percy felt himself slowly sink into nothingness, all the while staring at the mirror. He wanted it to stay in the image of this ideal version of Percy, but then he realized something. It looked a little bit too familiar. This version of Percy was bore too much of a resemblance to Luke. Upon this realization, the image blurred again, this time turning into a grotesque, macabre version of Percy, with ripped-out hair, one eye missing, scars making up most of his face, and multiple missing teeth.

"What the hell?" Percy questioned. He was tempted to stand up, but with C.C. working her magic and Percy's own morbid curiosity, he just kept staring. The image shifted then, from one image to another; to the different monsters he'd faced, to many monsters he had never seen before, each more hideous than the last. They kept shifting from the monsters, to Percy's grotesque form, to his ideal self. He realized that the mirror was showing him what was inside. And with all of the bad ones, all the horror, only one was ideal, and he didn't even particularly want that one.

" _Hey!"_ Riptide yelled in his head. " _Wake the fuck up!"_

Percy shot up from the seat, feeling a new burst of energy all of a sudden. He whirled around, seeing in C.C.'s hands black shrouds which, with the twitch of her fingers, moved and flowed. He drew Riptide. "I _knew_ it was a trap!" Percy claimed. "I knew from the moment I set foot on this island!"

" _Dick…"_

C.C. laughed. "A Celestial Bronze sword? Against my magic? That's adorable, deary," her voice was still as enticing, but Percy wasn't fooling around. "Come on, then," she challenged. Percy burst forward.

" _Uh, I_ really _don't think that's a good idea!"_ Riptide exclaimed, but it was too late. Percy leapt up into the air, ready to cut C.C. in half, but she shot her hands out, and Percy soon lost the grip of his sword. By the time it clattered to the ground, and Percy landed along with it, it had grown, or…maybe not. In fact, his clothes were growing a lot bigger too.

Then Percy realized that he was actually shrinking. When it was done, he had the distinct feeling of terror at not being able to see, as his clothes were in the way. C.C. unshrouded him and then picked him up. "Oh, such a cute one to add to my collection," she claimed, walking him over to the cage. Percy just barely caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror; he only saw a guinea pig.

He was set down in the cage with the other pets. Percy clawed at the bars of the cage, desperate to get out. He squealed and squealed, hoping someone would help him, only for him to realize that that's what the other guinea pigs had been doing for him. C.C. quickly disposed of his clothes, and then sat back down in her chair at the far end of the room.

" _Great!"_ Percy thought to himself, feeling the hopelessness of the situation. " _I finally work things out with Annabeth, and now I'm a fucking rat."_

" _I told you it was a trap,"_ Riptide said. " _And I think the correct term is 'rodent'."_

" _Oh, shut up! I don't need your smart-ass right now!"_ Percy tried to sound intimidating in his head. It didn't work.

That's when Annabeth came back into the room, followed by Reyna and a girl looking slightly older than the bother of them, probably the sister that C.C. mentioned. One of them was carrying Annabeth's old clothes, which they set on the table, before the two left.

Annabeth herself looked stunning. Her long hair was taken out of its tie and let left hanging gracefully down her back with small braids laced with gold falling behind her ears, with also some also framing her face and covering her forehead. Not only that, but she was wearing makeup, which she would normally never be caught dead in. Percy was thrown for a loop at the sight of her, given how un-Annabeth-like she looked.

Percy scratched at the cage bars and tried to get her attention. She only glanced his way before turning her attention back to C.C.

"How was your tour?" C.C. asked, her voice back to its sweet tone from earlier.

"Oh, it was wonderful! Your library is amazing!" Annabeth claimed, her eyes lighting up with excitement.

"Oh, of course! You may read and study whatever you so desire, my dear," C.C. offered. "You can be whatever you want!"

"An architect?" Annabeth inquired.

"Oh, you think too small, young lady!" C.C. claimed. "Think bigger, think a bit more…mythological."

"W-what-?" Annabeth started.

"Oh, I know a daughter of Athena when I see one," C.C. claimed. "I believe that you would make an excellent sorceress. With that kind of power, you can do many things, including building your fancy structures."

"I…can?" Annabeth was actually considering it.

" _No, no! We're doing something important! Annabeth! Abort mission, abort!"_ Percy kept clawing at the cage.

"Wow, that's a…big question, um…"

" _Oh gods, she's forgotten about me. How could she forget about me?!"_ Percy was getting more desperate by the second.

" _For the record, if you don't get out of this somehow, I'm going back to the horse-man,"_ Riptide warned.

Percy considered it for a second. " _Okay, Annabeth, leave me in here."_

"Can I have just a minute to think about this?" Annabeth requested.

"Of course, dear," C.C. left Annabeth alone. She quickly made her way over to the cage.

"Okay, which one of you is Percy?" she questioned. All of the guinea pigs squeaked in unison. "Ugh, you're insufferable."

" _You're the impossible one!"_ Percy shouted in his head.

"Alright, just hang tight and let me handle Circe," the daughter of Athena assured. "Then I'll have you _all_ out of there."

Right as soon as she said it, the door opened again. Circe walked back in. Percy had absolutely no idea how Annabeth was going to fight the witch, but he had to be ready in case he had to…squeak at her, or something.

"Deary," she woman started. "Have you made up your mind?"

"I have, and," she drew her knife from underneath her clothes. "I have to say that I can't really see myself turning guys into guinea pigs."

Circe frowned. "Oh, dear, are you _really_ going to try this?"

"I am," Annabeth confirmed. "And I bet you won't even touch me," she challenged, walking toward the witch. Circe started working magic, and the aimed it at Annabeth, but nothing happened. Circe tried again, but her time was running out. Once again, it didn't work, whatever she was trying to do.

"What? What is this? Why aren't you-" she didn't finish, as Annabeth held the knife up to her throat.

"I wonder how many men you've transformed since Odysseus?" she wondered. "I wonder if, if you turned them back, what they'd do to you? Probably a lot worse than what _I_ can do to you, for sure."

"I-I can't turn them back!" Circe claimed.

"Really? And what if I say I don't believe you?" Annabeth's voice was cold, low, and threatening. She slit a small cut onto Circe's neck. "Here's what's gonna happen. You're going to get the little packet of multivitamins in my old clothes, and you're gonna drop a few into the cage, capisce?" Circe quickly obeyed, fearing for her life.

As the guinea pigs ate, the cage grew smaller, and it soon burst, as each of the men grew back to full size. All of them were in their original clothes, somehow. Percy chalked it up to Circe's magic. Percy took several deep breaths. "Oh gods, oh gods, that was _the worst_ experience of my life!" he exclaimed, patting himself down to make sure he was fully human again. He looked at his fellow guinea pigs. All had old-fashioned clothes and cutlasses at their sides. One of them, their leader, had this big hat and this awesome beard.

"Yo! Are you pirates?" Percy wondered.

"Blackbeard?" Annabeth guessed.

"Aye, lad," the man confirmed. "And thanks to the young lass, we're back to normal, and…" he and his men turned their attention to Circe, who was cowering in the corner. "We be very angry pirates."

"Now, h-hold on, young men," Circe was obviously scared out of her dress. "I think we c-can…work out compensation. What do you say?"

Percy smacked his lips a couple of times, and looked to Annabeth for the go ahead. She made a gesture that said "your move." He pulled out Riptide, drew it, and then pointed it at Circe. "Get her!" he yelled, signaling all of the men to run after her. She dashed out the door, and the guys followed. She didn't even try working her magic anymore, as she figured it wouldn't work on them just like it didn't work on Annabeth.

As the guys were having their fun, Annabeth went ahead and passed out multivitamins to the other enclosed animals, turning them back into men, who similarly rampaged through the resort. She then tried to find Percy.

Percy himself had actually drifted off from the pack of pirates chasing Circe around. He was actually looking for Annabeth. Instead, her found Reyna huddled with her sister, hiding from the chaos. "Hey," he greeted, as if nothing had happened.

"Go away!" the older sibling demanded.

"Okay," Percy obliged, walking away from them.

"W-wait!" they called.

"What?"

"H-help us! Please, we don't-" the woman cut off. "You're capable, right? Get us to the mainland and we'll-"

"Sorry, no can do," Percy claimed. "I'm kinda on an important mission, trying to save the lives of hundreds of demigods and all," he explained. "But, uh…" he held up Riptide.

" _You mind if I let them borrow you?"_

" _I'd think nothing less of a hero."_

" _Alright, let's not get ahead of ourselves now,"_ Percy thought. He tossed the blade to Reyna. "You've gotta fight if anyone gets near you," he said to them. "Fight like your life depends on it. Go to the docks, find a working boat, and go…" he pointed northwest. "That way; that's the nearest land," he said, jogging off. "Oh, and before I forget, that sword will return to my pocket in a few minutes, so you might want to find another weapon soon!" he called back to them. He truly hoped they made it off the island. Percy never saw them again after that encounter.

Soon enough, he found Annabeth, back at the main lobby. "There you are!" she said. Percy grabbed her hand.

"Come on, I have no idea where the pirates are, and I kinda gave away Riptide to-"

"It's fine," Annabeth claimed. "I think they went further inland, leaving the docks alone," she said, walking casually out. Percy followed, but was sure to stay a few steps behind. He wasn't sure what it was about her, but it almost felt like Percy wasn't worthy to stand beside Annabeth, not when she looked so regal.

"I, uh…" Percy tried to put his feelings of gratitude into words. He also tried to shake off the feeling the images in the mirror gave him at the same time. "I, uh…thanks, I mean, for, you know…" he scratched the back of his head. Annabeth stopped.

"Thanks for what?" she wondered, appearing equally uncomfortable. This reeked just a bit too much of Crusty's from last year.

"I mean, for…being so…ready, for anything. You always, I mean, usually, have a plan, and, uh…" he was rambling, put off by the girl's appearance. "And, back there, when I was…smaller and…craving lettuce all of a sudden, I, uh…"

She giggled, walking behind him. When he turned, she was facing toward him, and smiling a genuine smile. She ran her hand through her hair, drawing it back, only for it to fall back into place perfectly. "I'm glad you're not a guinea pig, Seaweed Brain," she said. The image was stunning; not only was Annabeth gorgeous with her new look, but the lights of the resort, and the resort burning down incidentally, made her glow, like a thousand stars shimmered around her.

"Uh…me, too," was all Percy could manage to say. He didn't even realize that that was the first time she called him 'Seaweed Brain' since she'd come back to Camp Half-Blood. She grabbed his wrist and started walking again, and the two made it to a bigger ship, Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge.

Their journey continued, eagerly awaiting and simultaneously dreading their destination.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Gee, I wonder which show that final scene was inspired by. *cough, cough* Sound! Euphonium *cough, cough***

 **Anyhoo, this time I wanted to share what I think would make a good ending theme to this "season" of Cruel Spider. Last "season" is was _Everyone's Peace_ , from _Gurren Lagann_. This time I'm really feeling _Mashi Mashi_ (tran. "More and More") from Haikyuu. Specifically, the English version by Dima Lancaster (you'll hear that name more in the future).**

 **First off, the dude's a hugely talented musician. Second, the words, I feel, capture a sense of chiding and encouragement that can only be used in the context of Riptide and Percy in Cruel Spider. The first verse and chorus is basically Riptide propping Percy up, and the second verse can be a continuation of that, or it could could be Percy going to Annabeth, and telling her not to hide things, or vice versa, and then the rest of the song is just some fun. It's these double meanings that I think really sells the song as being able to be connected to the work...that was also a very poor way of conveying that.**

 **P.S. consider this chapter the calm before the storm. Next time, shit's gonna go down hard. Also, for the record, I think the next chapter is going to be very divisive among this audience...just a thought.**

 **Anyway, let me know what you guys think!**


	22. I Am The Force That Splits The Sea

Percy sang in the early morning. He'd just got done singing "Am I Blue", right before Riptide starting belting out "Da-ba-dee-da-ba-die"

"I've heard there was a secret chord, that David played and it pleased the Lord. But you don't really care for music, do you? It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth. The minor fall, the major lift; the baffled King composing Hallelujah…" Annabeth awoke, probably from his singing. Since the night before, she'd washed off all of the makeup and redid her hair into her usual ponytail. After a quick wash, she also changed back into her street clothes. "Sorry…did I wake you up?"

Annabeth nodded. "A little bit," she said. She'd actually been awake from his last duet, just listening. He wasn't bad either. He hit the right notes, his tone was fine. She noticed that his voice had gotten lower since last year, now that she'd compared his singing voice from last year to just then. "But it's fine," she claimed. "Is that the island?" she asked, looking to the horizon.

"Gods, I hope so," Percy returned, willing the pirate ship to go full-speed toward it. "So, once we get there-"

"We find Grover, we find the Fleece, and we get out," she said.

"What about Tyson? We said that we'd meet him here."

"Well, if he's not there by now, we'll have to assume he didn't make it. Polyphemus is stupid, but he'll know for sure when his Fleece is stolen. We'll need to get out of there," Annabeth said.

"R-right…." Percy stared straight toward the island, steeling himself for the encounter ahead. Annabeth, to Percy, seemed as nervous as he felt. She kept patting her legs, like she was checking if her wallet was in her pocket or something. He saw her invisibility cap in her back pocket. The bags of multivitamins, cash, and ambrosia were all below deck. She had a small bag on her back, to carry the Fleece in when they got it. "Hey, it's alright," Percy tried to reassure her. "We'll get through it."

"I know," she said. The two stood without speaking for a moment, listening to the dull roar of the waves. "Hallelujah," she started. "What you were singing; it's one of my favorite songs."

"Really?" Percy wondered.

"My dad used to play it in the car a lot. He said he sang it for my mom, for Athena. He said her words were 'I might be impressed if I were Apollo'."

Despite himself, Percy laughed. "That was her response?" he wondered. "Talk about a compliment."

Annabeth chuckled too. "Right?"

"Yeah, my mom would always have music on in the apartment, except when Smelly Gabe was playing Poker. She always played oldies, at least they were oldies to me; I don't think I heard anything past '85 or something like that. And she went back far to, like Frank Sinatra and Jonathan Edwards, so…yeah, I know way too many old songs…"

The daughter of Athena shrugged. "Eh, there's nothing wrong with that," she claimed. "Better than knowing all of these recent mainstream trash-heaps with no meaning, right?"

"That's a fair point, miss. Anyway, how's this for an offer? If we survive this and Mr. D doesn't turn us into grapes, I'll sing you 'Hallelujah', deal?"

Annabeth's face got red. " _Good thing he isn't looking,"_ she thought. "Um…let's just focus on surviving, then."

The island drew nearer, and the dread that surrounded the two of them began to creep up again. "Hey, Annabeth?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever wonder…I mean, with all of the different gods and spirits and mythological creatures to choose from, with thousands of years of history…why would gods choose a random mortal to care about?"

"I never really thought about it," Annabeth admitted. "I mean, maybe they just want a change of pace?"

"But still…like, why do you think Athena fell for your dad?"

Annabeth took a deep breath. "Well, he's very intellectual. I'm sure she liked that. He's a historian, you know? Specifically, he's a war historian, so that's another positive for Athena. He loves examining the tactics and the strategies."

"So it was a given for her to like him."

Annabeth shrugged. "I don't know…I always figured that even the gods want some kind of…emotional attachment, even when it's a mortal."

Percy nodded. "Well, for the record, I have no idea why my mom was chosen by Poseidon. Sure, she liked the ocean, but she…she wasn't anything special."

Annabeth saw his eyes get cloudy from pain. "…Maybe not to the rest of the world…but to him…and to you," she put her hand on his to reassure him. "She meant the world."

He nodded as they came ashore.

xxxXXXxxx

On the way to the island, Annabeth had explained to Percy that the influence of the Fleece would make the island look desirable, but he wasn't quite prepared for it. Luscious green valleys, separated on either side by a gigantic chasm that went so far, it just looked black at the bottom. But other than that, it was gorgeous. There was a small mountain toward the back end of the island, which was likely where Polyphemus resided. It seemed he upgraded from the dinky cave from his myth. "He probably built that mountain himself," Annabeth claimed.

"He what? Don't you mean, he…what?" Percy wasn't even sure how that was possible.

"Percy, he's one of the oldest Cyclops, and he's probably the strongest. Back when Odysseus met him, he was probably just an infant in Cyclops years, like Tyson is now."

Percy tried to imagine that; Tyson was already an eight-foot-tall giant. "So…how big is he?"

"Well, the one I ran into when I was seven was around twelve feet tall," Annabeth thought out loud. "I don't know, probably around fifteen to twenty feet?"

"And…how strong?"

"Too strong for us," Annabeth shot down a frontal assault right quick. "If one of us has to fight him, we're probably dead. He can make mountains by crushing together massive boulders."

"Okay…" Percy looked around the rest of the island. "Any chance he'd have a little off-shoot, to keep captured satyrs?"

"If Polyphemus captured a satyr, he would've eaten it."

"Then how did Grover…you know what? I don't wanna know."

"You _really_ don't," Annabeth shuddered.

"And…what about those things?" Percy pointed to a flock of sheep. He didn't have to wait for an answer. A lone deer frolicked out into the field, and the sheep went to town. She ganged up on the poor deer, and with a combination of razor-sharp teeth and hoof poundings, all that was left of the deer was a bone-dry skeleton. "Lovely," Percy noted. "Alright, so a front assault is _really_ out now, um…" he looked around. "I think the Fleece is that way," he pointed to a small valley past the field with the killer sheep.

"How can you tell?" Annabeth wondered.

"Well, the grass is greener on the other side, right? Look, there are more flowers and bigger trees that way. I figure the Fleece is stronger the closer it is, right?"

Annabeth almost looked impressed. "I might have underestimated you, Seaweed Brain."

"Is that an insult or a compliment?"

"Yes," she answered, going back down to the ship. "Here, let's go around the back of the island, and try and climb up the mountain and get in that way."

Percy nodded, followed her, and willed the ship toward the back. The two then began climbing, which was probably the worst thing ever. Annabeth went first, because she was the better climber, and once in a while when her foot slipped, it was Percy's face that it caught on. "Try not to give me a concussion, will ya?"

"Sorry," she said as she grabbed another foothold, and climbed into an alcove. "Here," she helped Percy up. Soon they were both relatively secure. "Hey, can you cut us a little hole to squeeze through?" Annabeth asked feeling the rock wall. "I think this is a really thin layer."

"Sure, I can try," Percy drew Riptide, and then stabbed into the rock, but it was like it was made of steel. "Damn, no good…"

"Alright, then we can keep climbing until we find an opening," she said.

"No, wait, I think I can…" Percy was about to do something supremely stupid. He willed water to appear from his hand. Strangely, it didn't really hurt, at least not nearly as much.

" _It's probably because you're body got used to using your powers in that way,"_ Riptide suggested.

In any case, Percy made a small ball of water, being sure not to exert himself too much, and then willed it to become a kind of knife or saw, and began cutting through. "How big do we need?"

"For you? Do you _really_ want me to answer that?"

"Just…whatever," Percy gave up as Annabeth laughed to herself. Percy began cutting out a hole, getting through the thin layer very easily, and then doing it on other sides until they had a hole about big enough for one of them to sit in, maybe being five-feet tall, and three-feet wide. Annabeth went first. "See anything?"

"I see…a lack of ground on the other side," she whispered back. "Shh…"

Percy waited, fidgeting with Riptide in his pocket. " _You aren't like…an astral projection hanging around me, right?"_ he asked randomly.

"What? _No._ "

" _I mean, so you can't like just float through this wall and listen for me?"_

" _Percy, I'm the sword; nothing else,"_ it chided.

"… _Okay, just making sure."_

"Oh gods…" Annabeth muttered, crawling back out.

"What?"

"Grover's not there," she claimed.

"What? How's that possible?" Percy crawled through the space, hearing the Cyclops talking to himself, or so he thought.

"Oh, I have not had a visitor in over two hundred years!" he claimed. "Before you came along."

"What the _fuck_ are you talking about?!" Clarisse was there too.

" _How'd she get here?"_ Riptide wondered. Percy continued listening.

"Untie me, monster!" the daughter of Ares demanded.

"Oh, monster, I have not heard _that_ one before," Polyphemus laughed. His cackle made the mountain shake. "No, I think it is time for me to settle down."

"You're saying…you gonna marry me?!" Clarisse questioned. The Cyclops must've nodded. "You crazy freak! Untie me so I can run you through!" she roared. It's loudness almost matched the Cyclops'.

"I think it is time to herd the sheep," Polyphemus said instead. He walked toward the exit, where the hollow mountain must've let out on the other end. It was while he walked that Percy got his first look at the beast. He was a massive twenty-foot-tall behemoth of a Cyclops. His skin was leathery and wrinkled, his one eye glossy and faded; it _had_ been stabbed with a hot spike by Odysseus after all. From his size and girth alone, Percy believed he could move mountains. Worst of all, his single eye, this grotesque, blood-shot thing, had sea-green Irises, just like Percy's own, signifying Polyphemus as a son of Poseidon.

" _Jeez, his steps are like the T-Rex in Jurassic Park,"_ Riptide claimed. " _On another note, I had no idea that Cyclopes were capable of sarcasm."_

"Not on topic," Percy crawled back out just enough to signal for Annabeth to follow, before beginning to climb down. "Gods, I hope Clarisse doesn't blow our stealth…"

"Knowing her…" Annabeth agreed.

After what must've been an hour, the two made it to the ground level of the cave. They made their way over to Clarisse, being careful to avoid being seen from anywhere outside of the cave.

"You?" Clarisse questioned. "What the hell…"

"No time," Percy said, quickly cutting her bonds.

"Hey, where's Grover?" Annabeth questioned.

"The satyr?" she wondered. "I'm the only one here, idiot."

"But…" Annabeth looked to Percy for help, but he only shook his head.

"I don't know…maybe he…" Percy couldn't think of anything. He obviously hadn't been there, since Polyphemus said no one came to the island in centuries. Thankfully, Annabeth stayed focused.

"It doesn't matter now," she swallowed the words. "We need to get the Fleece and get out of here."

"I hope you two brought back-up," Clarisse said. "Because we don't have a chance against that thing."

"Agreed," Annabeth said. "So we need a-"

"Hey!" Polyphemus was at the door. "What are you doing with my wife?!"

"Uh…nothing," Percy said.

" _Real convincing there,"_ Riptide mocked. Polyphemus was shaking with anger. " _Jeez, he has worse issues than you."_

Next thing they knew, Polyphemus had lifted a massive boulder and blocked the entryway. "Now _stay_ in there! You will rot before you leave with my bride!"

"Oh, great," Percy's shoulders dropped. " _Now_ what do we do?"

Clarisse shrugged. Annabeth shook her head. "Well, we're trapped in here," she claimed. "What do we do?"

"We think of a way to escape and grab the Fleece," Clarisse said.

"Okay…okay, let's all try and think of something…"

" _You there!"_ a voice appeared in Percy's head, an unfamiliar one.

"… _Riptide…did you just…become a man?"_

" _Eh? What are you talking about?"_ the sword wondered, sounding completely normal, for a sword that was talking in Percy's head anyway.

" _Yes, you!"_ the other voice came back, sounding masculine and arrogant, yet refined. " _With the dull expression!"_

Percy distinctly knew where the voice was coming from, so he followed it. "Where are you going?"

"I…don't know," Percy admitted, just continuing to walk. He went deeper into the cave. All the while, he kept being mentally harassed by this other voice, goading him into coming closer, and that he was going in the right direction. He kept going until he had to round a corner, and then he was in for a shock. Imagine the terror that coursed through Percy's body when he turned a corner and was then about an inch away from a horse's snout. Percy stumbled back and yelled.

" _Do not fear!"_ the voice said, as the Pegasus drew back. " _I am not your enemy!"_

Percy had to take several deep breaths as he stood before speaking. During this time, he examined the Pegasus. He was jet black, making it a bit hard to see in the murky lightning of the cave. He was a large, strong Pegasus, definitely a stallion. He had a regal air to him, like a king. "Gods, do you have any idea fucking terrifying you are in the dark?"

" _Silence peasant!"_ the Pegasus snapped. " _I will not be spoken to with such crass vocabulary!"_

"I'll admit, you are a weird one. Don't you hate me too? Because I'm not claimed, but I can still talk to you?"

" _How foolish would that be, peasant?"_ the horse asked. " _For me to judge one based on a trait so pedantic! Pah! Now, free me!"_

Percy looked, seeing it tied to a makeshift hitch that was wedged in-between two boulders. Percy complied, drawing Riptide and cutting the rope. He then took the rope from around the horse's neck. The Pegasus reared back, obviously pleased with being free.

" _Excellent! And what shall I call my savior?"_

"Percy Jackson."

" _Pah! How low! You should deserve the highest honors for your deed today! But as you wish. Percy Jackson, I am forever in your debt. Should ever need a steed, just call, and I shall come."_

"Just…call your name?"

" _My name? I cannot say I have one."_

"Then how do I…?" Percy wouldn't even finish the question. "Okay, how about I give you a name and we go from there?"

" _Very well. As you wish, peasant."_

Percy frowned, not exactly liking being called a peasant, but it was certainly better than being called a heretic. "Alright, how about…Blackjack?" Percy suggested. The Pegasus was silent. "No, you're right, that's stupid, um…" Percy tried to think. "How about…Agro?"

He whinnied. " _I am satisfied with this name. Babes shall now tell of my legends! The Triumph of Agro!"_ he boasted. " _Now, how did you enter this great beast's lair, Percy Jackson?"_

"I made a hole up higher. You might be able to squeeze through if you tuck in," Percy claimed. The stallion sort of nodded, and then took off. Percy saw it just barely fit through the hole he'd made for himself and Annabeth. Percy began walking back to the others.

"… _I just want you to know,"_ Riptide started. " _I'm not okay with other voices getting into your head."_

"Jealous?" Percy guessed, smirking.

" _I just thought we had something special,"_ it claimed, clearly messing with the demigod. Percy chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah…" he waved it off. Soon, he reached the others back at the entrance. "Hey, sorry, I, uh…had to take care of something."

Both of them scrunched up their noses. "Oh gods, you didn't-"

"What? No! There was a trapped Pegasus back there calling to me!" Percy claimed. Clarisse still looked skeptical.

"…I'm not going back there."

"Whatever, let's just think of a plan to get out of here, alright?"

xxxXXXxxx

It wasn't until around six hours later that the boulder was removed from the entryway so that the Cyclops could get back in. In that time, dark clouds had rolled over the island, threatening to storm at any moment.

Once Polyphemus removed the boulder, Clarisse and Percy hid away, and Annabeth put on her invisibility cap, standing right in the open. "…Where did you go, my beautiful bride?" the monster wondered. Clarisse shivered at the thought of marrying this hideous creature. "I think we will have demigod soup for dinner tonight. What do you think?"

"I think that you're a spineless oaf who could not see where I was even if your eye was perfect!" Annabeth called from one side of the room. She had contorted her voice to sound a bit more man-ish, though it was a horrible attempt.

Polyphemus turned toward the sound. "Eh? Who is there? You are neither my wife nor the demigod I will eat for dinner!"

"I am Nobody!" Annabeth claimed.

"Nobody!" the cyclops roared, marching toward where Annabeth's voice came from. Percy and Clarisse silently made their way toward the exit. "Nobody left! Nobody left a long time ago!"

"No, stupid! Nobody never leaves! It is Nobody! Nobody can't leave, only Somebody can!" she claimed, having moved to a different spot, this one further into the cave.

"Rragh!" Polyphemus grabbed a boulder and chucked it at Annabeth, who yelped, momentarily throwing away her façade to try and avoid the projectile. "Wait…Nobody was a man!"

"I am Nobody!" Annabeth claimed.

"You are _not_ Nobody!" the Cyclops reasoned. He whirled around, surprisingly fast, toward the entrance, where Clarisse and Percy were. He quickly chucked another large boulder at them, making the entryway crumble in on itself, leaving no way out.

"Well, what now?!" Clarisse questioned.

"I don't think we've got a choice!" Percy claimed, drawing Riptide. The Cyclops laughed when he saw it.

"A toothpick! Wonderful!" he grinned a toothy grin. The sight nearly made Percy gag.

" _Oh, now I_ really _want to cut him into pieces."_

Percy was the first to charge, since he had the best weapon of the group. He managed to avoid one of the monster's swipes and then slashed his ankle, but it didn't really do much. The monster tried to grab Percy, but then Annabeth came around, still invisible, and stabbed his hand, making him rear back enough for both of them to get away.

"We can't stall him forever," Annabeth claimed, right beside Percy, even if he couldn't see her.

"I know, I know!" Percy tried again, but he didn't get very far this time. Polyphemus was faster than he looked, and was getting angrier, and thus stronger, by the second. Percy was warded off from an offensive before he even began. Percy was forced to retreat. Clarisse then joined the fray, using several make-shift weapons including, but not limited to, a giant sheep's thigh bone. She weaved around Polyphemus' arms and legs, and then even climbed up onto his arms to try to attack his face, but that plan backfired as she reared back, with the Cyclops shaking her off before she could attack. "Damn, this is getting us nowhere..."

" _Don't you have a really stupid plan yet?"_

"I'm, uh…" Percy dropped Riptide. "I'm working on it…"

Percy concentrated all of his energy once again, and tugged at his gut until water was created from nothing. He shot jets at the ground, creating a puddle that was about the size of an above-ground pool. He then retrieved Riptide from the ground and stepped into the pool.

What was supposed to happen was that Percy was supposed to get the usual rush of energy that he got when he stepped into a body of water, like what happened in his fight with Ares and Clarisse the previous year. However, that was not what happened; Percy only succeeded in stepping into a puddle.

"Damn it!" Percy snapped. "Why do my powers have to be so damn…" he couldn't think of the word.

" _Selective?"_ Riptide suggested.

"Yeah, that."

Percy tried to rejoin the fray, with Clarisse and him trying to distract the Cyclops while Annabeth, now visible, went for back-attacks. It worked, sure. But they weren't doing any actual damage considering Polyphemus' size and strength, and like Annabeth had said, they couldn't stall him forever.

Then they heard yelling.

"Mayday! I am falling very fast!" a high voice cried, getting louder with each word. Before anyone could process what happened, Tyson shot down out of the darkness above, and cannonballed Polyphemus right in the back. While the impact didn't seem to do any actual damage to the monster, it tripped him up and made him fall face-first into the blocked entryway. It didn't completely unseal it, but it created a small opening that looked big enough for them to get through. The only issue: Polyphemus was now blocking that very entryway, and was even more pissed off.

Tyson quickly recovered, faster than the other Cyclops, and hugged both Annabeth and Percy. "Oh, I am so very glad to see my friends again!" he cried, giddy with joy.

"It's good to see you two, Tyson," Annabeth said. "But we've got something important going on right now," she claimed. He let go of them and approached Polyphemus.

"Um…h-hello?' Tyson started as the Cyclops shook its head after standing back up.

"Eh? Who are you, little thing?"

"I am a Cyclops!" Tyson said proudly. "And you are a Cyclops! I believe that it would me for the best if we were friends!"

Polyphemus laughed once again, but this time it seemed much more low and threatening. "You? I would barely think of you as a baby!" he claimed. "You are not my friend, you are more dinner for me!" Polyphemus swatted Tyson away with such force, knocking him into the wall and creating cracks in it from the impact. Percy half-expected him to explode into dust right there, but he didn't, just looked very dazed.

Clarisse moved in again, but Percy kept Annabeth back. "We need to get him out of that doorway," he said.

"I know, but we don't have anything to make him move. I thought maybe Tyson could…" she didn't want to say he was weak, but compared to this monster, it was no contest between them. "I'll go invisible, try and lure him away again, and then-"

"And then you'll be here, alone with this thing. Not gonna happen, not while I'm here," he claimed. Annabeth turned away.

"I don't need your concern," she said. "…but thanks."

"B-brother…" Tyson called groggily from the other side of the cave.

"You okay?" Percy called back, going toward him. Tyson stumbled a bit, and then fell forward onto his stomach into the puddle that Percy made. "Ooh, sorry about that." Percy moved to help him up so they could all help Clarisse, but Tyson got up on his own, surprisingly fast. And then before Percy's and Annabeth's eyes, the water crept up Tyson's body and healed all of the cuts and bruises he'd gotten from the rocks, the fall, and Polyphemus' attack. Percy had almost forgotten. "Oh gods, that's right! You've gotten Poseidon's blessing!"

"What…does that mean?" Tyson wondered. "I feel…strong!"

Percy didn't really have time to explain, as Clarisse was fighting a losing battle, trying to get past Polyphemus, but he did a quick sum-up. "Okay, you know my water powers? How I get healed when I'm in normal water and get stronger in it too? Well, I have those powers because I'm a freak. I'm a son of Poseidon without his blessing and I learned to control these powers on my own. _You've_ got his blessing, he gave it to you when he claimed you!"

"So…I am the strongest Cyclops?" Tyson wondered.

"Um…now's a good a time as ever to find out, bro," Percy said, urging both him and Annabeth forward to fight once again. Honestly, he still doubted that Tyson could fight Polyphemus mono-e-mono.

So, while Annabeth pulled back Clarisse, Tyson tested out his new strength. Percy made sure to keep Tyson supplied with water at his feet. Polyphemus shot a fist toward Tyson, but he stopped it. The son of a bitch actually _stopped_ Polyphemus' fist. Granted, it pushed him back several meters from the force and it definitely didn't look pleasant, but this was a huge step up from being swatted away like a fly. Unfortunately, this made Polyphemus angrier.

" _Remember, you don't need to kill him, just get outside and get the Fleece,"_ Riptide reminded. Percy silently acknowledged that.

Tyson ducked under a clumsy swipe from the older Cyclops and then grabbed him around the waist, trying to wrestle him, and it was sort of working. Now, Tyson was never gonna get Polyphemus into like a Full Nelson, his arms just weren't long enough, but the big guy managed to wrestle Polyphemus away from the door, just enough for the other three to get past. Now they had to get Tyson the opportunity to get past.

"Hey, Clarisse, how much do you trust me?" Percy questioned.

"What?"

"About as far as you can throw me, right?" he guessed. She seemed to understand. She grabbed Percy by the shoulders, pushed him down to the ground, rolled into front of him, and used the momentum to send him flying toward Polyphemus' back. Percy just barely managed to time locking his legs for the impact, which nearly made him trip over like when Tyson fell into him. Tyson and Percy joined Annabeth, who was halfway out, with Clarisse already having left. "Tyson, let's go!" Percy urged, running toward the small hole. Polyphemus was already facing toward them.

"No, brother," Tyson said. "The monster will keep coming for you," he said.

"Tyson, we _don't_ have time to-"

"It is alright," Tyson claimed, turning to Percy and smiling. "I am the force that splits the sea."

Percy wanted to run up and hug the big oaf, for being so stupid, for being so innocent, for being so brave. Percy had to bite back tears, as something told him that this would be his last chance, one way or another. But if he did Polyphemus would crush them both. So, Percy heeded Tyson's request, and left him alone to fight the strongest Cyclops alive.

Percy hit the ground running, even as he almost slipped on the wet grass, alongside Annabeth. "Where's-"

"He stayed," Percy interrupted, knowing what she was gonna ask. He felt raindrops beat against his face as he ran, filling him with adrenaline. He had almost forgotten the feeling of regular water, before it was touched by the Sea of Monsters. "He stayed to fight."

"But he'll be killed!" Annabeth almost stopped, but she forced herself to keep going. Percy saw her face out of the corner of his eye; half frustration at not being able to do anything, and half terror, probably thinking of what was happening to the young Cyclops right now. They saw Clarisse up ahead, across the bridge. They could even see the golden glow of the Fleece, hanging from a tree. Around them, killer sheep had their brains smashed in, probably from Clarisse's wild attacks.

"No, he won't!" Percy snapped. "I mean…he can't."

The two demigods raced across the bridge, figuring they'd be safe after they crossed. It looked way too narrow for Polyphemus anyway. Then again, he might've been able to just hop the distance of the chasm. Hell, Percy probably could've made the jump if he used his water powers and his natural demigod strength at full-force. He looked overhead, seeing that the thunderclouds overtook the sun; there wasn't a clear spot to be seen. The rain was coming down hard too, with the lull of distant thunder sounding like constant noise.

"I've got it!" Clarisse called. Percy and Annabeth had just finished crossing the bridge. A wave of relief washed over them, but it quickly faded. Percy looked to the shore, seeing not only the Queen Anne's Revenge docked at the island, but also seeing another ship, a cruise ship, approaching, and fast, from the east. Luke was on his way to claim the Fleece for himself. And that wasn't even the worst part.

The worst part was the crash the sounded behind them.

When they looked back, they saw that the entryway had been blown open by a big impact, probably by a boulder. A figure was tumbling out of the entryway, so far that it stopping moving at the chasm. It was Tyson, and whatever hit him to send him that far definitely took its toll. He struggled to stand, blood ran down his face and torso, one of his arms looked mangled and twisted in a way that it shouldn't have.

"Tyson!" Percy called. He turned around to look at Percy. His one eye had tears coming down it, from the pain. All too late, Percy realized that the bridge was too small for Tyson as well.

"Brother…" he said softly, reaching for Percy, like it was the only thing keeping him going. Suddenly, a massive form hurdled toward Tyson, from the entryway. At first, Percy thought it was Polyphemus himself, but it was too long, too narrow, and too pointed. It was a gigantic spearhead, and it hit dead-center.

The rock-turned-spearhead blasted through Tyson's chest, causing blood to spurt out. Tyson's eye went blank, losing consciousness if not worse. He fell forward, unable to stop himself, and fell straight into the chasm.

"No! Tyson!" Annabeth called, horror-stricken. Clarisse was racing back up to get them. Percy was numb. "Percy!" Annabeth shook him. "We have to-" she cut off, not sure what they should do.

"Come on! We need to go!" Clarisse urged, tugging on Annabeth's arm. "We don't have much time before that monster catches up, and before Luke gets to the island! Come on!" she tugged again.

Percy felt Polyphemus race down to the bridge, his sarcastic, spiteful comments and simple language reverting to primal roars and snarls. He knew that someone had stolen his Fleece, because everything around them was drying up, even in the downpour. Percy felt it beneath his feet.

When the demigod looked up, seeing that hulking form racing toward him, something must've snapped. This beast had killed Tyson, Percy's only family left that cared at all about him. Tyson had believed in Percy from the very start. _Percy_ had acted coldly toward him for something he couldn't control. _Percy_ was the reason they were separated, because he wasn't strong enough to cool the engine on the CSS Birmingham. _Percy_ was the one that let Tyson stay and fight on his own.

Seeing Polyphemus, Percy's numbness that had become too familiar to him quickly changed into an unbridled rage, the unyielding desire to murder this Cyclops. Percy felt himself surge with power, fueled only by his desire to kill. Water shot from Percy's body and enveloped him in a sea green aura. He said only one thing before he shot back across the chasm and engaged Polyphemus alone.

"I am the force that splits the sea."

 **Author's Note:**

 **So anyone who's read Mark of Athena knows how much cliffhangers are the greatest thing a writer can do, so...suck it. Didn't I tell you the chapter would be divisive?**

 **So fun-fact: I wrote this entire chapter and the next (which is the finale of Sea of Monsters by the way) over a course of six hours. I just woke up at 1AM and stayed up and started writing and didn't stop until I finished.**

 **Fun-fact number 2: renaming Blackjack into Agro is both so that I don't have to be frustrated trying to type Blackjack (because it sucks) and it is a reference to Shadow of the Colossus. There, the horse is named Agro and is the player character, Wander's, only companion throughout the whole game, so there's a special connection to the name.**

 **Anyway, let me know what you guys think in a review! Hype for Sea of Monsters finale!**


	23. A Wish Is Better Than Nothing

"I am the force that splits the sea," Percy's battle cry echoed as time stood still. Neither Annabeth or Clarisse processed what was happening until it already happened. Percy had propelled himself back across the chasm to fight Polyphemus. Before their eyes, he saw Percy relentlessly attack the Cyclops and force him back away from the bridge, managing to hold his own even without Poseidon's blessing or the boost he got from being in a body of water, just his own reflexes and the rain and situation giving him adrenaline.

Clarisse was the first of them to wake form her daze. She tugged on Annabeth's arm once again. "Come on!" she repeated, beginning to drag Annabeth away. "We need to go!"

"No!" Annabeth wrestled her arm free. "I have to stay!" she claimed.

"You don't have to do shit! The fool wants to die like his brother? Let him die!" Clarisse snapped. "We got what we need, now come on!"

"Then go!" Annabeth snapped. "Go back alone, use our ship! I don't care! But I _can't_ leave him alone!"

Clarisse clenched her fist, ready to sock the other girl. She might've just knocked the blonde out entirely, if she hadn't charged back across the bridge. "Damn you two…always thinking you can do whatever you want…" she cursed, before running down to the shore, and to the Queen Anne's Revenge. "Fine, _I'll_ save the camp, you two keep being selfish."

xxxXXXxxx

Percy was directly responsible for about a third of the moves he was preforming. The other two-thirds were purely anger and adrenaline. In one hand, Riptide was creating a whirlwind of death with slashes being sent at least three times a second. With his other hand, Percy was creating water, and sending them to slice up wherever Riptide couldn't reach.

That wasn't to say Percy was winning. Polyphemus looked more annoyed in his own fury than actually being harmed by the attacks, as each of Percy's slashes only managed to cut skin-deep. His hide was so tough that Percy couldn't get enough force to puncture the monster's fat. The only soft part of the Cyclops' body seemed to be his face, but whenever Percy tried to hit it, the monster kept avoiding the strikes, knowing his weakness. Everywhere else, though; almost impenetrable with Percy's strength. Perhaps _that_ was Polyphemus' biggest boon against demigods, why he was so feared. By that token, his biggest bane was the fact that he was still half-blind from Odysseus, meaning he had a hard time seeing Percy when trying to hit him, something which wasn't helped by the massive storming raging around them.

Percy avoided a swipe at his head and slashed the Cyclops' arm, before jumping on top of it and slashing at his chest; again, not doing much damage. Percy then jumped toward the monster's chest, as he tried to grab Percy, and kicked with everything he had. The monster stumbled backwards into the wall of the mountain, making it rumble. The combination of rain and the lack of Fleece made the mountain rock particularly loose, sending some of it down onto Polyphemus' head, dazing him further.

" _Kill him!"_ Riptide kept screaming in Percy's head. " _Murder him dead!"_

Percy tried to oblige, sending wave after wave of self-produced water with such force that it shook the mountain, and kept pushing Polyphemus back into it, sending more rocks down onto him. Unfortunately, Percy knew that he would eventually burn out, probably before he killed Polyphemus. The pain from exerting his powers so much barely fazed the son of Poseidon, however. He kept raining down blows, alternating blasts of water with sword slashes.

Unfortunately, soon his luck ran out. The Cyclops forced an attack, and Percy was unprepared for it. He swatted the demigod away, into a tree. The force blasted him straight through the trunk, snapping it. Percy stood, but his vision spiraled. He found it even more difficult to see through the storm and darkness. His arms ached from exertion, both with his powers and with his sword. He felt like giving up.

Percy only stood because he remembered Tyson. He recalled the warmth that he'd come to associate with Tyson, and felt the void that was left in his absence. That was all Percy needed to be filled with wrath and energy once again. Still, that one hit did a number on the demigod. He probably had at least a couple cracked, if not broken, ribs, and most definitely a bad concussion, worse than every kick to the face he received from Annabeth when climbing up the mountain earlier that day. He saw Polyphemus racing toward him, with each step making the ground shake, and readied his sword.

Percy needed to find a way to end things, before his body gave out of him.

xxxXXXxxx

Annabeth raced after Percy and Polyphemus, but somehow she lost them. How she lost them, she didn't know. It could've been the Mist fucking with her head because life hates her, it could've been the dull lighting, it could've been the echo of their yells confusing her brain, or it could've been a combination of all three.

Either way, who she eventually found wasn't Percy. She was actually jumped by three demigods. "Stop," they ordered. She quickly drew her knife in self-defense.

"You're with Luke?" she questioned. "You've been tricked?"

"Tricked? We've been liberated," one of them stepped forward. He was a tall Asian boy, looking a bit older than Annabeth. His most distinct feature was a black eyepatch over his left eye.

"I don't…recognize you," Annabeth said cautiously.

"Of course you don't," he said. "Even when I was claimed, no one cared, because it wasn't one of the twelve that had cabins that claimed me," he spat bitterly. The implications seemed to jog her memory.

"You're…Ethan? Ethan Nakamura, son of Nemesis. I remember…you gave up your eye as a tribute to your mother."

Ethan got a look on his face, one of acceptance. He nodded. "It doesn't matter anymore. Mother was never in favor of balance, only revenge. She wished vengeance on the Olympians for their poor treatment of the minor gods, and this is the way to do it. Kronos will bring about a new age of prosperity! He will tear down the regime of the Olympians, and cast them out!"

"And you think that'll make life better?" Annabeth questioned. "The Olympians have led Western Civilization for over two thousand years without a catastrophe. What will Kronos do? Wipe out humanity?"

Ethan smirked. "For every age there comes an end. The West's age has gone on for far too long as it is," he claimed. "Give us the Fleece," he ordered. "Join us to revive Kronos. Make him stronger."

"I'd rather die and be sent to Tartarus for eternity," Annabeth asserted. Suddenly, she got a brilliant idea. "If you want the Fleece so bad, come and get it," she took a step back. She made very clear the bag on her back. "But you'll have to catch me first," she said as she took off running, with the three rogue demigods chasing her.

Her reasoning was this. If she knew Luke, she knew he hated waste. If he sent a large party onto the island, for all he knew he would be sending dozens of monsters and demigods to their deaths at the hands of Polyphemus. Thus, he'd likely only send a few people, his best for the job, which Ethan apparently was. If she could distract them, keep them away from Percy, give him the best chance of staying alive, however slim those chances were, then _that's_ what she would do.

Still, she knew she'd eventually tire out, and they would catch up to her. It was only a matter of time before they did. When they did, she agreed to go with them, to present the Fleece to Luke herself. She didn't let them touch the bag, and silently thanked the gods that they believed her.

xxxXXXxxx

Percy had been fighting for over two hours. During that time, he hadn't been able to push through Polyphemus' fat armor, only causing shallow wounds on his arms and legs. All he needed was one good shot, one direct hit, and he'd have the fight in the bag. But then, that one hit was the catch, wasn't it?

Meanwhile, Percy had taken several more nasty hits. He had landed face-first into a rock one time, making his forehead started bleeding. He'd been scratched by Polyphemus' nails, causing his arm to bleed. Several bruises and sprains had formed from the impacts he took. The worst wound, however, was the one in his side. When he'd been sent flying, he'd been half-way impaled on a branch, with it puncturing his side from the front. Thankfully, he stopped before it pushed all the way through, but the wound both nearly made him black out and was bleeding profusely.

" _You_ need _to end it, Percy. You can't keep this up!"_ Riptide urged in his head, and he knew it.

But he was almost out of options. He was backed to the chasm again, with Polyphemus charging toward him, fast as ever, while Percy felt sluggish. He tried to summon the strength he felt when he'd leapt across the chasm and started fighting, but that well had long since dried up. Tyson's memory made him feel less angry and more overwhelmingly depressed now. What was the point in fighting? He'd already lost the thing worth fighting for.

Percy wondered if he'd bought enough time Clarisse and Annabeth to get away. When he chance a look at the shore, he saw that the Queen Anne's Revenge was gone, but he also saw the Princess Andromeda docked alongside the shore now too. He wondered if they could see his struggle, and were just waiting for him to die, to pick off Polyphemus and try and steal the Fleece.

" _Suckers,"_ Percy thought as he smirked, having to blink the red from his eye, even in the rain. " _They don't even know they're too late."_

Then it hit him, like a bolt of fucking lightning, Percy realized. The reason that he hadn't been attacked by Luke's demigods or monsters, was because they'd been attacking someone else: Annabeth. Don't ask Percy what his train of thought was. Maybe it was that fate thing that Annabeth had told him about.

The thought of what they might be doing to her gave him another surge of energy, and just in the nick of time. He didn't even realize it, but by the time Percy's body moved, Polyphemus' meaty hand was just inches from his face. Percy ducked under his grasp and slashed the monster's ankles with all of his might one last time as he ran through them. Now, Percy had Polyphemus backed to the chasm. He ran away for about six feet, before leaping off of the ground. He'd never attempted this before and wouldn't recommend doing it again. He forced jets of water to shoot from his feet with such force that it propelled him high into the air. Percy didn't know how he managed it, but he got just the right distance and height, and then let gravity do the rest. Percy changed his grip to reverse, and braced his arm as he came down. Thank the gods, Polyphemus couldn't stop him in time.

Percy's blade shot down into Polyphemus' chest, the force of the blow aided by Percy's own remaining strength and from the momentum of his fall, but it wasn't done. Percy's blade dragged down Polyphemus' chest, down his stomach, before finally coming out when Percy landed. The resulting gaping wound made the monster's blood gush out onto Percy, covering him almost from head-to-toe. It also made the monster keel over, with his head being low enough for a guy to slash. Time seemed to slow down for Percy as he spun around, switched his grip back to normal, and used the momentum of the spin to give his diagonal slash as much power as possible, letting out a roar of exertion. The blow cut open the monster's cheek and slashed up his eye even more. The monster reared back, off-balance. Percy used the last ounce of his strength to summon another blast of water, shooting it with incredible force at Polyphemus, pushing him back completely, and causing him to topple down into the chasm, killing him.

Percy dropped to his knees, and then his hands, and then fell to lay on the ground. He'd literally used up the last of his strength to kill that thing, to slay Polyphemus, the strongest Cyclops.

" _Two of one shall fall to depths,"_ Riptide repeated the line of the prophecy. " _Two monsters with one eye…Tyson, and Polyphemus,"_ Percy couldn't even muster the strength to nod. He was too filled with sadness and fatigue and pain. And yet, he stood back up. " _I'm sorry, Percy. I wish there was something you could've done."_

Percy's breathing was extremely labored. All he wanted to do in that moment was curl up into a ball on the shores of Polyphemus' island and wither away into nothing. If he was lucky, his slaying the monster might net him a chance in the Fields of Asphodel. He knew he couldn't hope for Elysium; Hades didn't like him enough. But he might've liked him enough to not send him to the Fields of Punishment.

Percy shook those thoughts from his head. He wasn't through yet. He still had to do one more thing. He took a deep breath, even as it burned his side wound to do so. "Agro!" he yelled as loud as he could, hoping that the Pegasus would hear him.

xxxXXXxxx

Even as the Princess Andromeda sped away from Polyphemus' island, the stormclouds didn't let up, and neither did the rain. Even after they passed Charybdis and Scylla, the rain didn't stop. Silently, Annabeth wondered what engine or magic engine this boat ran off of; it would revolutionize sea-travel if she got her hands on it. She shook her head, forcing herself to stay on task.

They had left two hours ago, and finally Luke was ready to see Annabeth, his prisoner. She guessed it was because he wanted to make sure they were far enough away so that Polyphemus couldn't follow them once they had the Fleece. Part of her wondered what they would use it for, but then the other part of her slapped herself for wondering that. Of course they'd use it to try and speed up the revival of Kronos. The Fleece had the capability to do so, and it was the _only_ thing capable to doing so.

"No wonder it's so coveted…I wonder why more heroes haven't tried to get it," she thought aloud while waiting. She was about to say it wasn't the hardest thing in the world, but then she thought about the cost. For all she knew, both Tyson and Percy had perished on the island, Tyson for sure. The thought brought tears to her eyes. Despite herself, Annabeth had come to care for that monster as he had cared for her from the start. He was so innocent and friendly and wanted to be helpful and…the more Annabeth thought about him, the sadder she got.

That was when Annabeth was brought to Luke. He was standing over the sarcophagus, just like the last time she met him. That time, he'd hurt her worse than any monster could, by beating her in a mind game and nearly breaking her spirit. And he didn't need his sword for that. Her biggest fear was that he'd do it again.

"So, how's Grover been lately?" were his first words as he turned around. He was smirking, like he knew something that she didn't.

"What are you talking about?" she questioned, trying to sound a lot braver than she felt.

"Well, from what I hear, you've been having dreams about him. Oh, he must've been in _terrible_ danger."

"What are you…" Annabeth put two and two together. "It was you! That whole empathy link was a lie made up by-"

"By Kronos, yes. See, Annabeth? He can influence anyone, anywhere, even the gods, even you."

"And even you," Annabeth retorted. "He's fooling you, Luke! Using you, you're better than that!"

"No, Annabeth, I'm better than the gods. I'm not being used; I'm _willingly_ aiding the Lord of Time so that he can cast out the petty gods which have ruled for too long!"

"You're a monster!" Annabeth claimed, almost feeling ashamed that that was the worst she could think of to say to him.

"A monster?" he questioned. "No, Annabeth, I am not a monster. You know that."

"I…I do…" she admitted. "Which is why…it hurts so much…to see you like this," she struggled out the words. She tried to play to his emotions, to try and convince him to step down. "Please, I don't like to see you like this. Come back, please!" she begged.

He almost looked like he was considering it. Almost. Then he chuckled. "It was a nice try, Annabeth, but you were never a very good actor," he claimed. "No, the only way I'm ever going back to that wretched camp is if it's to set it ablaze, or, if you so desire, you could fight me, beat me, and drag me back there yourself. _Then_ I might consider it," He got her in a box. "But of course, you can't do that, so why bother? Now. The Fleece," she held out his hand. She slid her back off of her back and held it close to her. "Annabeth, don't make this get ugly, please."

Annabeth bit her lip. His face looked concerned for her, just like it used to, when they were on the street with Thalia. She wanted so badly to give in and join him, with all of her heart. But she didn't.

She threw the empty bag at him and ran the other way, out the door. Ethan was waiting for her, but she ducked around him, running to the side of the boat. Annabeth then had to avoid monsters, who had apparently become privy to escape after their last one, and started cutting her off. She knew she was being herded somewhere, but she didn't have any other choice. She could've jumped off the edge and swam, but where would that get her? She was still hundreds of miles from the nearest shore, and they could catch her, shoot her, or whatever they wanted to do. She had no choice but to keep running.

Eventually, she made it to the stern of the ship, where she was blocked on both sides. In desperation, she jumped and climbed on top of the roof, trying to beat them to the front and after that she would…well, she hadn't really thought that far ahead. Lucky for her, she wouldn't have to. A group of flying monsters, whose names Annabeth couldn't think of, cut her off. She tried to the turn back, but the rogue demigods had caught up, and were blocking her that way. On either side, if she jumped down, she'd been mauled by more monsters. She was fully trapped now. Luke climbed up with the empty bag, and chuckled.

"That's really cute, Annabeth, how you always have a plan. I've always admired that about you. The problem is, your plans are great, but take them away, and you have nothing. All you have in your dinky little dagger and a smart mouth."

"You _gave_ me this dagger!" she snapped. "Remember? You said it was to keep me safe!" she tried once again to reason with him. "Please, Luke, you said we should never abandon each other; that we were in this together. I can't join you, and I can't fight you. Please, come back with me."

"Yeah, well, I also said not to wander out of camp when you aren't supposed to. You didn't follow that advice either," Luke drew his blade, Backbiter, and approached her. Annabeth didn't even draw her dagger; it would've been about as helpful as a feather against Luke. "One last chance."

Annabeth frantically looked around for an out, trying desperately to formulate any kind of plan, but she all could think about was Percy, and how she almost hoped he'd died against Polyphemus so that she didn't have to face the Judges alone.

Luke sighed, and raised Backbiter.

"Annabeth! No!" everyone heard from the air. They all just barely had time to register that a jet black Pegasus was on a crash-course for the roof of the Princess Andromeda. It lurched up just as it passed, allowing Percy to leap off and land in a group of monsters, slashing them to dust with Riptide in one second flat. Percy didn't waste time, going straight for Luke, who met him blow for blow with his own sword.

"Don't attack!" Luke called as archers knocked their arrows. "I want this one myself!" he said if as if it were a challenge. Luke quickly gained the upper hand in their little duel, slashing Percy's already damaged sword arm and nicking him on the face.

Now, don't take this the wrong way; Percy was a fantastic swordsman, the best they had at Camp Half-Blood even. But Luke was on another level entirely, probably being on the same level as Achilles or Hercules. Percy had the potential to be that good, especially given how Luke had far superior experience to the son of Poseidon, but at this point, there was no contest. And Percy couldn't win this fight with willpower alone.

Luke slashed Percy's leg, making him kneel, before kicking him away. It took Percy a long time to recover. Luke grinned as he raised his sword. "Behold! This is just an ounce of the power of Kronos!" he claimed, as his blade began radiating with power and began glowing a golden color. Annabeth could swear it didn't give off that feeling just a moment before. Percy just barely stood as Luke slashed through the air. What should have happened was nothing, Luke should've looked like an idiot, but that's not what happened.

From Luke' blade, a wave of energy shot from it in the shape of the arc of his slash. Percy looked as unprepared for it as Annabeth would think. He had no idea if this attack had any force or what it's purpose was. It turned out that its purpose was to do a lot of damage and to blast Percy away. He just barely raised Riptide in time to block it, but it nearly crushed his sword arm from the force. He lost his grip, sending Riptide flying and skidding to a halt at Annabeth's feet, and he was sent flying off the side of the boat. For a moment, Annabeth forgot who Percy was, and was filled with the same anger that Percy had when he saw Tyson die.

"Percy!" she called as he fell before glaring straight at Luke, grabbing Riptide, and running toward him. She wasn't sure what she was thinking, or if she was thinking at all, but she fought Luke with Riptide nonetheless. It was a one-sided affair.

" _Hey there, blondie!"_ a voice in her head emerged. " _How's about you not!"_ right as Annabeth thought she was going to stab straight through Luke's face (he would've dodged anyway) the sword willed itself away from his face. Luke pushed her away, being careful not to skewer her on his sword. Monsters approached her from behind. " _Hey, we need to go!"_

Just as soon as the voice said those words, the black Pegasus ran through the monsters, and landed in front of Annabeth. Reluctantly, she climbed on, taking one last look at Luke's disappointed face before she took off.

Then, something incredible happened.

A roar sounded beneath the Princess Andromeda, and then a massive wave rolled up beside it. Percy shot out of the water, suspended in a whirlpool around fifty feet in the air, just over the wave. His face was pained, his muscles tense, and his body language all-around indicated am immense deal of stress. He took a deep breath, and then screamed. As he did, the rain stopped. He literally suspended the raindrops in midair, probably not making Zeus too happy with the stunt. He used the rain to add to the power of the wave. Luke, for the first time, broke. His face contorted to one of pure rage.

"It was you! All of this time, _you_ were the child of the Big Three?!" he questioned. Percy rightfully ignored him. With one final push, Percy shot the wave toward the Princess Andromeda. It should've sunk them, but it only succeeded in washing away the monsters that were on deck, and pushing it about a hundred feet away.

Annabeth acted fact and caught Percy as he fell, before flying north, away from the Sea of Monsters. Annabeth managed to make Riptide turn back into a pen, noting that it _had_ been talking to Percy all of this time, and that he wasn't insane. " _That wasn't a good idea,"_ it said somberly.

"What do you mean?"

" _He was already half-dead; he'd used up his strength back on the island. This was just…too much,"_ Riptide claimed. Annabeth gently grazed his face, seeing him lean into it a bit in his unconsciousness. " _He'll live, but I don't think he'll be using his powers for a_ long _time."_

xxxXXXxxx

What happened back at camp was far too much for Annabeth to process all at once. As soon as they arrived, conveniently right at the same time as Clarisse, she went to place the Golden Fleece onto Thalia's tree. It worked immediately, with a wave of nature magic washing over the valley, making it even more beautiful than it had ever been. Everyone could finally feel safe again. But then something really weird happened, and weird is the only way to describe it.

Thalia's tree glowed the same way it had when it had first been made from her dying body, and then…Thalia popped out of it. Annabeth could've blinked and she would've missed it, but there she was, alive, well, and looking older, maybe seventeen?

Thalia, daughter of Zeus, was welcomed to Camp Half-Blood.

A few days passed, and Annabeth had hardly seen Percy. The Apollo kids assured her that they were doing what they could to speed up his recovery, but his wounds were so severe that they said it could take weeks or even months even with ambrosia and nectar. Annabeth could only imagine the pain he was going through, and she felt so bad for not being there for him, even when he came back to save her.

She tried to keep her mind off of it by showing Thalia around. The two were a little awkward at first, given how Thalia was so disoriented at everything around her, and Annabeth had assumed she'd been dead for seven years now. Of course, it didn't help that Thalia looked so old and wise and powerful compared to Annabeth, or even Percy.

She looked regal, like her father, with relatively short black hair and these piercing blue eyes. Annabeth recalled that she'd been terrified of her at first because of her eyes. If Annabeth's eyes looked like they were trying to read someone, Thalia's looked like they were trying to cut that someone into a million pieces, they were _that_ intense.

Still, after a few strange conversations, they hit it off fine again, with Annabeth even convincing her to go to school with her come fall.

To Annabeth's surprise, after just four days, she saw Percy walking around. Once she saw it, she had to do a double-take, before approaching him. "You're supposed to be in bed," she chided. He gave her a look of almost disgust, before continuing to walk. "Hey, don't walk away from me!"

"Ugh, I've heard that enough today," he complained, his voice raspy. "I don't need to be in bed anymore."

Even as he said it, he nearly doubled over. He would've fallen on his face if Annabeth hadn't caught him. "You were saying?"

"Just…help me to the water. I haven't felt it a long time."

Annabeth herself was sick of water, but she obliged. Soon, they were at the lakefront. Percy sat in the water alongside Annabeth, who didn't mind the wetness. Instantly, Percy's features softened; he was comfortable here. "…I never thanked you," she spoke.

"Hm?" he hadn't been listening.

"For saving me from the Princess Andromeda. You must've been…" she didn't want to say dead, but no other word seemed to fit.

Percy shrugged. "You would've done the same for me," he claimed. Annabeth wished she had that kind of confidence in herself. Percy leaned forward and tensed his hands. He tried to feel for the tug at his gut, to manipulate the water, but it didn't come. He sat there for a few minutes trying, but the more he did, the more drained he felt from doing so, and he didn't succeed in moving a drop of water. Percy broke, not realizing how much he'd been exerting himself. He had to take several breaths before his breathing returned to normal, and he had to wipe sweat from his forehead.

"Your sword said that you wouldn't be able to use your powers for a while," she mentioned.

"Yeah, it told me that too," he claimed. "I just had to try out for myself."

"Well…you can start small, and work your way back up. I'd say you've earned a break," Annabeth pat his back, making him flinch. "Oh, sorry."

"It's, uh…it's fine. So, what'd you think of Riptide?"

"Well, we didn't talk much, but I can see why you tell it to shut up a lot," Annabeth smiled.

Percy chuckled. "Yeah."

"It called me blondie," she added.

"Oh, my heart bleeds," he teased.

"Shut up! It really hurt my feelings!" the daughter of Athena claimed.

"I'm sure it did, while you were fighting for your life," he teased her further. The two laughed a bit, before just enjoying to breeze, the sunlight, and each other's company. Then they heard hooves behind them.

"Percy," Chiron said his name somberly. The two stood, and faced the centaur. "Come with me, please."

The two followed him to the Big House, where Charles Beckendorf and Silena Beauregard were waiting on the deck. "What's up?" Percy wondered, sensing the sadness in the air. "Why the long faces?"

Silena looked up. "Annabeth…told us what happened…to your…brother," her words were cautious and her tone, even more so. Percy looked down, his hair shrouding his eyes.

"We thought it'd be proper to give Tyson a proper burial," Beckendorf presented Percy a shroud. It was sea green, with a trident and a worker's hammer emblazoned in the center. Soon, Percy's tears stained the image.

Annabeth did her best to comfort him as they all moved to burn the shroud. No one said a word. Riptide softly sang "The Last Goodbye" by Billy Boyd. Percy was going to snap at it, but he knew it was out of nothing but respect. When the shroud stopped burning, Percy stayed there alone. Part of him expected Poseidon to claim him right there, as a sick joke, but nothing happened. "Poseidon…dad…Hades…whoever is responsible for him now," he muttered. "Just…do this one thing for me. Please…take care of him…he didn't deserve this."

Chiron came back up to him. "Percy…" he said. "I believe that you deserve something for your efforts."

The centaur took him back to the cabins. By that time, everyone else was at dinner, still celebrating Clarisse's completion of her quest, and good for her. they stopped at cabin three, Poseidon's cabin. "What are we doing here?" Percy questioned.

Chiron took a long, deep breath. "Percy Jackson…I'm granting you special permission to enter Poseidon's cabin just this once. This is your reward for your bravery," he said.

Percy looked from Chiron, to the cabin, back to Chiron. "…I don't want to go in," he claimed. He even as he said it, he walked toward the door, and opened it. Inside, there were three sets of bunk beds, a desk to work, and a fountain in the corner. Honestly, Percy expected more, like a replica of Poseidon's throne, but he guessed that that would be a bit disrespectful. Percy felt drawn to only one area, however. Hanging on the wall was a shield. It had a gorgeous design, with a trident crossing diagonally over the shield, with a horse on one side and a dolphin on the other. Above it read "For Tyson." The Cyclops hadn't taken it. In fact, it seemed he etched out what was written, and then wrote something else "For my brother Percy."

Percy was hesitant to take it. It was a beautiful shield, and Tyson wanted him to have it, but Poseidon most definitely didn't. He was just going to leave it, when the wall started glowing. Before his eyes, new text appeared, written in ancient Greek. It read: I will take care of him, let his gift take care of you.

Percy took the words with a grain of salt; they _were_ coming from Poseidon after all, who hated him. But still, Tyson's gift…

Percy emerged from the cabin with a shield on his arm. Chiron looked like her approved. "It suits you, Percy," he claimed. The boy nodded. "Come then, you're missing your meal."

"You mean more ambrosia?" Percy questioned. Chiron chuckled.

"Well, do you want to suffer more than you have to?"

"No, sir," Percy agreed.

xxxXXXxxx

That night, after everyone had gone to bed, Percy snuck out to the lakefront again. At first, he thought he might try out his water powers again, but he saw someone sitting out there already. Her blond hair fell naturally down her back, like it had back on Circe's island.

"Annabeth," Percy greeted.

"Hey," she said back, patting the sand next to her. Percy sat down. "…couldn't sleep?"

"I could," Percy replied. "But I didn't want to."

She nodded. "I saw your new shield," she noted. "It looks nice."

"Thanks," Percy said. "I just have to hope the Stoll's don't take it."

"If they do, just let me know, and I'll get it back for you."

"Heh, thanks, Annabeth," The girl frowned. "W-what?" she didn't answer. "What'd I do?"

"Percy…what do you think of me?"

" _Ooh, I hate when people ask me this,"_ Riptide claimed. Percy hated it too.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," she turned to him, now looking deadly serious. "What do you think of me?"

"I think…you…I have no idea how to answer that," he admitted.

"Okay, fine, then _I'll_ say it, Seaweed Brain. I like you."

Heat rushed to his cheeks. He saw her face go red as well, but she didn't change her serious expression. "I, uh…okay?"

"Okay? What do you have to say to that?"

"I mean…"

"Do you like me back?" she questioned, her voice going a bit defensive.

" _Oh hey, and you two are acting like stupid teenagers again."_

"Do you?" Annabeth repeated.

"I mean, I do, but…" Annabeth turned back to the lake.

"Gods…I expected something better," she complained.

"Whatever," he returned. " _You're_ the one that sprung it on me."

The two sat in silence for a while, hearing the lull of the waves. Annabeth took a deep breath. "…I don't know if it could work out," she claimed.

"Hm?"

"I mean, our parents hate each other," she said as she stood, and walked into the water until it was up to her ankles, about five paces away from Percy. Her silhouette was lined with the reflection of the stars. "We don't exactly get along all of the time either."

"Well, we've been doing pretty well recently," Percy claimed. "You seem less…abrasive."

"I didn't think you knew that word," she chuckled. "And yeah, maybe I haven't. Thanks."

"Um…for what?"

She turned back around to face him. "For making me smile more," she said. "It's been helping me get through this, all of the stupid bullshit that we demigods have to deal with."

"Yeah, uh…you too," Percy had absolutely no idea what to make of this encounter.

"So, yeah, I don't know if anything between us can ever work out," she continued. "But you're brave, and you're strong, and you're funny."

"And you're pretty, and you're _way_ smarter than me," Percy added. "You're everything that I'm not, and I'm everything that you're not, right?"

She nodded. "Something like that," she agreed. "For all I know, we'll be broken apart tomorrow. For all I know, you may die or I may die and whoever is left will be heartbroken. But if there's a chance, Percy…if there's a chance that this can work out…instead of giving into this…awful life," the stars seemed to glimmer around her. "Don't you think that a wish is better than nothing?"

A breeze blew past, making her hair flow. Percy nodded, trying to come up with complete sentences. Annabeth walked toward him. "Yeah, I think that that's something…I mean, I really do like you, Annabeth, and I-" she put a finger on his forehead. His gaze stayed locked into hers. For once in his life, he was completely focused on one thing.

"Brighteyes," she said. The wind came back, causing her hair to blow past and in front of her eyes, which were, indeed, extremely bright right then.

"Brighteyes," Percy repeated. Annabeth softly, sensually, slid her finger down his face, tugging a bit on his bottom lip, before her hand fell back down to her side.

"I am the daughter of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy," she said. "I was destined to hate you, a son of Poseidon, from the very beginning. We were likely to do battle, and _I_ was to come out victorious, just as Athena triumphed over Poseidon in the naming of Athens. And yet…" she faltered, lowering herself and gently grabbing his face on either side. "I've grown to care about you more than I could have possibly imagined, Percy."

He blinked several times, trying to process the information. Then he laughed. Annabeth looked about to yell. "No, wait, I'm not laughing at you," Percy claimed. "It's just that you sounded like you read that off a fortune cookie or something."

"Percy!" Annabeth wanted to hit him for being an idiot, but she refrained. "I'm serious!"

"I know," Percy smiled. For once in his life, he knew exactly what to say and how to say it. "A wise man one said 'never trust a man who tells you all his troubles, but keeps from you all his joys.' Do you agree?"

"I...do."

"Okay, Brighteyes; at this moment, you're the only joy I have in this valley of despair that is the life of a demigod. My mother is dead, so is my half-brother. My dad hates me, and I'm significantly weaker than I was like a week ago. Are you absolutely sure that you still want me? I'm kind of a mess," he grinned sheepishly.

Annabeth laughed then too. "You think _you're_ a mess? Seaweed Brain, I've been dealing with my own mess alone for seven years. How about this? If I help you deal with yours, you help me deal with mine, okay?"

"Deal."

Percy grasped around her waist. He pulled her closer, until their lips touched. It was the new couple's first kiss.

When they separated, both of their cheeks rosy. Percy pulled her closer, into a hug. "Don't forget your promise," she chided.

"Um…"

" _Not looking like very good boyfriend material now, are ya?"_

"You promised to sing for me," Annabeth claimed as they separated, sitting side-by-side on the beach, holding hands. "Hallelujah, remember?"

"Right," Percy smiled, and he started singing.

 _I've heard there was a secret chord_

 _That David played and it pleased the Lord_

 _But you don't really care for music_

 _Do you?_

 _It goes like this, the fourth, fifth_

 _The minor fall the major lift_

 _The baffled King composing Hallelujah_

 _Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah_

Annabeth then joined in with the second verse. Her voice sounded great to Percy, just as his sounded wonderful to her.

 _Your faith was strong but you needed proof_

 _You saw her bathing on the roof_

 _Her beauty in the moonlight_

 _Overthrew you_

 _She tied you to a kitchen chair_

 _She broke your throne, she cut your hair_

 _And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah_

 _Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah_

Percy picked up with the third verse, being backed-up by Annabeth.

 _Baby I've been here before_

 _I know this room, and I've walked this floor_

 _I used to live alone before I_

 _Knew you_

 _I saw your flag on the marble arch_

 _Love is not a victory march_

 _It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah_

 _Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah_

Percy took the last verse, and both came in strong for the final chorus.

 _I did my best, it wasn't much_

 _I couldn't feel so I tried to touch_

 _I told the truth, I didn't come to_

 _Fool you_

 _And even though it all went wrong_

 _I'll stand before the Lord of Song_

 _With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah_

 _Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah_

 _Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah_

 **Author's Note:**

 **Alright, cards on the table: two of my favorite shows (at least in my top ten) are _Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works_ and _Sound! Euphonium_. These last two chapters drew very heavily in certain scenes from those two shows, right down to the title of the chapter (and the line said by Annabeth) being taken from the OST when the two main leads from Euph hike up the mountain in episode 8 and essentially confess their love for each other.**

 **Before I go into what I think is a good opening for this season, I want to point out that the version of Hallelujah I took from for this (if you were wondering) was the A Capella version by Peter Hollens and Jackie Evancho on YouTube. Note, I don't imagine Annabeth's voice to be that operatic, but that was the version I listened to, and I'd recommend it.**

 **So, the song I picked for this season, that is my adaptation of Sea of Monsters, is _Oath Sign by LiSA (_ yes that's how it's spelled). Specifically, the English version by Youtuber Rikatwoo. The lyrics are translated by Y. Chang, who you'll hear a lot of more later, and I felt that they basically perfectly encapsulated everything in Sea of Monsters. I could go on all day, but Percy's assertion that he makes his own destiny works well with the line right before the chorus; "I'll turn our fate in chance, to hope." This other person in the lyrics, whoever it is being sung to, could refer to Percy speaking to either Annabeth or Poseidon, with lines like "my way back inside your heart" or "you know I do it for you" or "When you're by my side, I'm justified, there's nothing I can't do" and "Holding you is all I wish". Then there's the final line "Evermore onward, this is the oath I swear" directly correlating with Annabeth's plea to Percy to look away from his past and to look forward to the future, back in like chapter 20 or something. Also, remember the wording, because I _might_ be using those words for myself (hint, hint, wink, wink).**

 **I'd be lying if I said I didn't model some of the lines to fit better into the lyrics, one because I love the song and two because I thought it fit well into the story I was trying to tell.**

 **Anyway, go ahead and give the song a listen, especially that English version (which is like only a minute and twenty seconds long), and let me know what you think!**

 **P.S. I'll most likely be uploading a few side stories in-between this and the start of Titan's Curse in the next week or so, but they won't be the start of the daily uploads; those begin right when the book, The Titan's Curse, begins; with them going to that military school int he snow, so look forward to those!**

 **EDIT: I'm gonna do a thing where I explain the prophecy now that it has passed, for those who are confused or who don't want to go back and fact check or whatever. Here goes:**

 _ **You sail alone on iron through the breadths**_

 **Fairly self-explanatory; Clarisse embarked on her journey alone on the C.S.S. Birmingham or whatever it was, through the breadths refers to the ocean before she got to the Sea of Monsters.**

 _ **Where two of one shall fall to depths**_

 **Explained in the story itself; two monsters of one eye both fall into the chasm (depths) on Polyphemus' island.**

 _ **Succumb to friends to return alone**_

 **After Percy engaged Polyphemus, Annabeth ordered Clarisse to leave on Blackbeard's ship and go back to camp alone to ensure the Golden Fleece would make it back safely.**

 _ **Though doom another to atone**_

 **This refers to Percy being forced to both confront Polyphemus alone and rescue Annabeth from the Princess Andromeda alone. 'Atone' usually has a religious context, usually in penance for a sin. You could say his sin was wrath at Polyphemus engaging him alone and leaving the other two questers on their own. He had to rescue Annabeth to atone for that sin, so to speak.**


	24. This Is My Joy And My Troubles

"Hey, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth greeted.

"Good morning," Percy greeted back, wiping the sweat from his brow. He'd been busy at the arena. "What's up?"

"Well, I've got some newbie campers who might want to see you in action," she said, as six twelve or thirteen-year-olds filed in behind her, only three he recognized from the Hermes cabin. "Alright guys, this is Percy Jackson. He's an idiot, but he can swing a sword decently well."

"Can I remind you that you're dating this idiot?" he retorted, tossing her a practice sword. "So, not to bring up a touchy subject, but who are your godly parents?"

"Ares," a boy answered.

"Demeter," a girl followed.

"Apollo," another girl.

"Hecate," a boy answered.

"Ooh, that one's out there…" Percy mumbled, staring at the other two undetermined's. "Alright, so out of the six of you, odds are that only one of you will be naturally talented at swordplay. There's nothing wrong with trying it out though, and hey, for people who haven't found out who their parent is, I'm right there with you," he lied, but it seemed to lift the spirits of the two that were there. "Brighteyes, you're gonna be my dummy, alright? And before you ask; no that _wasn't_ an insult to your…smartness."

" _You couldn't even come up with 'intelligence'?"_ Riptide questioned.

"Uh-huh," the blond quickly slipped on some armor. Percy was tempted to say "remember kids, always put on your armor before you fight to the death" but then Annabeth would've compared him to a PSA commentator for weeks.

So, he ended up showing them basic slashes and blocks, and then at the end showed them how to disarm their opponent. Then they let them go ham on each other. Percy took a break from his own training and sat next to Annabeth. "So what's up?" Percy started the conversation.

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"I mean, you don't usually volunteer to show around the new campers."

"I did for you," she reminded him.

"Yeah, because you liked me," Percy claimed. Annabeth laughed.

"Don't flatter yourself," she claimed, tugging at his arm. "Come on, get up."

"But I just sat down," he whined.

"Come on," she repeated. "We're going a few rounds," she claimed, drawing her dagger. Percy chuckled.

"Come on, with the toothpick?" he teased.

She smirked in response. "Come here and see how far your insults get you."

After a while of sparring, the group got another visitor. Everything seemed to stop when she arrived; she had that kind of presence. She just walked in, and everyone slowly stopped doing whatever they were doing. "Thalia," Annabeth greeted, breathing hard from the practice bout.

"Annabeth," the older girl returned. Thalia's gaze drifted from Annabeth, to Percy, to the newbies, and then back to Percy. "You were showing them how to fight?"

"Well, more like they asked," Percy claimed, trying to sound casual, though it was difficult.

As a bit of background. It had been only a few weeks since Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, was spat out of the tree she was turned into. Since then, she'd been treated as a bit of an anomaly. She stayed in Zeus' cabin, which was unheard of. Her status as a claimed child of the Big Three made her a bit…unapproachable, except in the case of Annabeth. Of course, her attitude and style of dress didn't really help. Instead of the orange Camp Half-Blood shirt that was given to campers when they arrived, she chose to wear all black, despite the warm weather, usually with a shirt that said something off-putting like "Death to Barbie" or something. She was like one of those hipster assholes who think they're metal, hardcore, better, or otherwise above normal people because they dress and act differently from everyone around them.

She tapped her bracelet, which then extended into an absolutely gnarly shield. Annabeth had told him that it was called Aegis, which was a gift to Thalia from Athena for looking after her daughter on the way to Camp Half-Blood. It had an etching of Medusa so terrifying, it made Medusa herself look like Barbie, pun intended. Then she took a Mace canister from her pocket, and it took elongated into a sick-looking spear, much like Riptide emerged from a pen. Annabeth told Percy about this one too; Regalia, a gift from Zeus himself, with the ability to channel her powers through it.

" _Magnificent,"_ Riptide claimed in Percy's head.

" _Don't get googly eyes,"_ Percy chided. "And what are you gonna do with those?" he tried not to sound intimidated, but that shield was absolutely horrific.

"I want to fight you," she said.

Percy blinked, taken aback by her bluntness. "…Alright, sure," he said cautiously, moving to one end of the arena, while Thalia stepped to the other end. "First to fall?"

"Presumably," she returned.

Percy couldn't really help being a bit unnerved by her. Even compared to Annabeth, Thalia's eyes seemed to bore into him. Like, remember when Percy asked for Annabeth to stop trying to shoot heat vision at him? Well, Thalia was succeeding at doing it. Not to mention, she barely spoke and when she did, her voice was usually one-note.

After a few tense seconds, Percy made the first move, trying to work his way around her shield, but her defense seemed to be too solid. Thalia used her weapon's innate advantage of length to keep Percy at bay, so he didn't get many chances to test her defenses, but he did it enough to know he couldn't get around it. Next, he tried to get her off-balance. He kept pushing her back, never letting up his offensive, until she was backed into a wall. Meanwhile, Thalia seemed to be carefully studying Percy's technique, trying to find a way to beat it. She quickly realized that she couldn't beat him if she didn't know his full capabilities. He'd shown how to attack; now he had to be put onto the defensive.

Thalia, as she was backed to a wall, saw an opportunity and kicked off the wall behind her, stabbing toward Percy's chest as she did. To her surprise, he reacted extremely quickly, parrying the strike and attempting to get a shot on her arm to weaken her attacks. Unfortunately for him, Thalia reacted just as quickly, bashing Percy's face with her shield, dazing him, before pushing her own offensive. She made precise stabs at him, and long sweeps with her weapon, all of which were as fast as lightning. He blocked all of them, but wasn't given a chance to counterattack. Thalia kept pushing until he was the one against the wall. He probably could've gotten away with doing what she did, but Percy didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing it was her move that he used to win.

He tried to take her assault head-on. He _knew_ he could do it, or at least he thought he did. But he couldn't.

Thalia's attacks kept coming, and Percy was running out of options. He then tried to roll out of the way of a stab, only to be kicked as he did. Except it wasn't just a kick, it was a kick from Thalia Grace as she exerted her power over lightning. Percy was sent back a good few meters and feeling slightly numb from the impact. When he tried to get back up again, he found Thalia's spear at his throat. He slowly lifted his hands in surrender.

"Okay, that's enough," Annabeth said. Thalia lowered her spear as Percy stood. "I think we know who the victor is."

Thalia put away her spear and shield. "I'd expected more from the one who killed Polyphemus," she claimed, before turning to Annabeth. "It's time to go to archery."

Percy sighed, knowing he'd be alone in his defeat. Thankfully, Annabeth pulled through. "Actually," she hooked her arm on his. "I told Percy that I'd show him a few things with hand-to-hand," she lied. "You can go on without me," she said. The daughter of Zeus took a few glances from Percy to Annabeth, before walking away. Annabeth then turned to the newbies. "That's enough for the day, you got your spectacle. You all probably have chores by now. Go on," she urged them out, leaving the two alone.

The two, specifically Percy, was suspicious that Thalia stuck around to see if they were lying, so they actually did practice hand-to-hand combat. Annabeth was showing Percy how to throw someone who was punching him. And by "showing", she was actually just throwing him over and over while expecting him to get it.

"Why does she hate me?" Percy wondered as he stood from a throw.

Annabeth avoided his gaze. "She doesn't…I mean, that isn't to say…" Percy raised an eyebrow. "Well, she doesn't _hate_ you, it's just…look, Percy, I told her who your father is and what he thought."

"Oh, that explains it," Percy said sarcastically, throwing a punch at her and letting her throw him again. "So? What does she care? What? Does her highness feel threatened by me or something?"

Annabeth stifled a laugh. "When Thalia becomes threatened by you is when I become a damsel-in-distress," she claimed. Percy frowned.

"Get to the point, please."

"Well, she's been a pine tree for like seven years. All that time, her father kept telling her that they were right, that they knew what was best, that she should always follow them. And then when the gods, specifically Poseidon, say that you don't deserve to be claimed, she just…went along with it, I guess?"

"You guess?" Percy questioned. Annabeth just gave a look of "what more do you want?" The son of Poseidon sighed. "Come on, you know that's bullshit."

"Yeah, _I_ know, but she…" Annabeth was hesitant. As she was distracted, Percy tried to get a good shot in, but she reacted and threw him accordingly. After that he gave up, sitting along the wall of the arena. Annabeth sat next to him. "Percy, I know she's a little bit difficult to deal with sometimes, but it's not like you really have to deal with her all that often, right?"

"Maybe not around camp, but whenever I want to be with you, she's always hanging around," Percy claimed. "'Hey, Annabeth, wanna be on my team in Capture-the-Flag? We'll be a scout party, just the two of us.' No, Thalia makes it a three-man team. 'Hey, Annabeth, want to come practice canoeing with me? Alone on the lake?' No, she's right there."

" _Since when were you_ ever _that smooth?"_ Riptide questioned.

"'Hey, Annabeth, wanna come practice archery with me? It'll be loads of fun!' No, because you and Thalia were about to go to the Pegasus stables."

"For the record, you probably would've shot me in the back or something," she retorted.

"In my defense, it wouldn't be on purpose; you know I suck at archery," Percy claimed. "But come on, you get what I'm saying, right? I'm not just being selfish, am I?"

"No, you're not being selfish Percy, but…Thalia is my best friend, and now that she's back, I'm afraid…" that she was gonna lose her again. She couldn't bear to say it, for fear of making it come true. Percy took a deep breath as she let her words sink in. He tried to clear his head of some of the muck.

"…I'm sorry, Brighteyes. I know you don't like choosing between your friends," he said, slinging his arm around her shoulders, letting her lean on him. "I won't make you."

Annabeth took a deep breath too. "Thank you. I'm sorry I'm not spending as much time with you as I could, but at least until things get normal again, I'd really appreciate it if you could…tolerate Thalia, for me."

"…Only for you," Percy said. "You should go with her," he said.

"But-"

"Chiron won't like that you skipped archery to make out with me."

Annabeth blinked at her boyfriend. "We didn't make out."

"Yet," Percy said. "Maybe we will if you don't get going," he urged her to stand.

" _Ugh, I think I'm gonna vomit,"_ Riptide complained.

" _Suck a chode, man. I earned the right to say that."_

" _Sure, if by 'earn' you mean she puts up with you almost as much as I do, then sure."_

" _Hey, you said before you'd go back to Chiron if I get myself stuck or killed, so you can leave whenever you want, right?"_

"… _Touché."_

"Are you sure?" Annabeth broke him out of his thoughts. "I don't want to just leave you."

"No, it's fine," Percy claimed, urging her further out the door. "And I don't just want to get rid of you either."

"…Alright," she conceded. "Oh, and I've been meaning to remind you. Our one-month is this weekend, so…just thought I'd let you know. Maybe we can do something special? I mean, not anything _too_ special; we have to stay inside the camp borders, but um…" she was definitely hinting to him. "Anyway, just thought I'd remind you," she said before jogging off, her face beat-red.

Percy was left speechless. He went back into the arena and proceeded to beat his head into the wall for ten minutes, cursing himself that he didn't remember and plan for the occasion.

xxxXXXxxx

"What am I supposed to do for a one-month anniversary?" Percy kept asking the question out loud, probably freaking out or garnering the pity of the other campers whom he walked past. "A candlelit dinner?"

" _Where? The Hermes Cabin or the dining pavilion with everyone else there?"_ Riptide shot the idea down.

"Okay, what about a nice romantic walk on the beach?"

" _Cool, she'll either take it as a call-back to when you got together, or as a 'I was far too lazy to think of something more original' type thing."_

"Can't take that risk…" Percy muttered. "Gods, Percy, think!"

" _You're not good at that."_

"Shut up, Riptide! Percy snapped.

" _Look, bro, just calm down. What the hell do you know about relationships?"_

"I haven't a damn clue!"

" _Okay, who_ does _know about relationships?"_

"Uh…Hera maybe? She's the goddess of marriage, right?"

" _I was thinking Aphrodite."_

"Okay, how do I contact her."

" _I was referring to her children, specifically the one that's not a total bitch,"_ it said. Percy nodded and took several deep breaths as he headed toward the Pegasus stables. " _You know, for a guy who has no trouble using a sword, relishes the challenge of fighting monsters, and the guy who went toe-to-toe with Ares and slayed Polyphemus single-handedly…you're a total spaz."_

"Well, it's just…if I mess this up, I might go back to square one with her, and I don't if I'll ever make it this far again, and…things have been so good," he tried to justify his spazziness.

It wasn't working.

"Silena!" Percy called the girl's name as he entered the stables, only for the Pegasi to rear back and try to smack him with their hooves.

" _Heretic!"_

" _Begone!"_

" _Off with his head!"_

"Yeah, it's good to see you all too. Hey, where's Silena?"

" _Flying,"_ one of the Pegasi answered.

" _Do not answer the beast!"_ another one scolded. Percy left before another argument could ensue. Percy looked up in the sky, seeing a group of Pegasi flying a little ways out.

"Agro!" Percy called, and, as usual, the majestic animal landed in just a few seconds.

" _What do you require, peasant?"_

"I need a lift, up to those other Pegasi," Percy explained as he hopped on his back, and the tow lifted off, with Percy steering the Pegasus in the right direction.

Percy wasn't overly fond of flying this high. If possible, he liked to stay low to the ground. He'd always had a slight fear of heights, especially in enclosed spaces like a plane, which is part of the reason why he would never ever get in one in his entire life if he could help it. That, and he would probably be shot down by Zeus if he tried to fly in one.

Pegasus riding was different, though, because the Pegasus was a living, breathing animal that, if it liked you enough, would catch you if you fell, which reassured Percy tremendously.

Agro quickly caught up to the other Pegasi, probably freaking the new riders out. Silena had been in front, leading the way, while the others looked terrified to be flying this high. Percy could sympathize.

"Silena!" he exclaimed as he cut her off.

"Percy? Um…now's not really a good time," she said, with her Pegasus, Lixis, whinnying in protest to them stopping.

"When can you talk? I need to ask you something."

"Um…" she thought about it. Some of the newbie campers snickered and made kissing noises.

"Hey, shut up, swine!" Percy ordered at the younger kids. "You might understand if you're ever in a relationship."

The younger campers burst out laughing, obviously having taken it wrong. "N-no! We're not-" Silena tried to correct it. "Percy!"

"What?"

"Think before you talk!" she snapped, her voice going even higher than before. After a moment, he realized how the younger campers had taken it.

"Oh…yeah, Silena's not my type. I'm dating a hot blonde who's _way_ too smart for her own good," Percy quickly explained.

" _Jeez, the lack of tact on this guy…"_

" _Well, what would you have said?"_

" _I'd start by not calling them 'swine',"_ Riptide mocked.

" _Who are you speaking to, peasant?"_ Agro questioned. " _Do you require a personal therapy session?"_

"No, Agro, I'm fine," Percy pat his head. "Besides, you don't exactly strike me as someone who's good with people problems."

In response, the Pegasus bucked Percy right off.

"You asshole!" Percy yelled as he fell.

"I'll meet you when the lesson is done!" Silena called down as he hurdled toward the lake.

" _Hey, here's hoping you still don't feel the impact when you land in water,"_ Riptide said nonchalantly. Thankfully, he didn't. He _was_ sent about twenty feet below the surface. He also was still able to breathe fine in the water, but he couldn't manipulate the water to propel him forward, so he was left to swim. Well, whether he actually could propel himself is a bit irrelevant since he didn't try; he just knew it would hurt like a bitch either way.

He made his way to the shore, where Agro was waiting. " _I hope that will teach you not to insult royalty, Percy Jackson."_

"Bite me," he muttered back as he went back to the Pegasus stables. He had to wait at least an hour and a half before Silena and her pupils touched back down. During this time, Percy tried approximately eight-four times to beat Agro in a staring contest. He didn't win even once.

"So, what'd you want to ask me?" Silena questioned.

"Okay, so you know relationships, right?"

"Well, I know how to end them," she claimed. "But go on."

"Well…Annabeth and I; our one-month is coming up and I have no idea what to do for it. I _know_ she's expecting something good, but I'm…drawing a blank."

Silena chuckled. "Jeez, never seen you like this," she said. "It's almost endearing."

"Almost?"

"Percy, what type of girl is Annabeth?"

"Well she's…a pragmatist. That's what she called herself."

" _It means that she likes to do useful things and likes to do them efficiently."_

"Okay, what does she like?"

"Well, she loves Hallelujah, the song. She's a fan of old music…maybe I can have the Stoll brothers smuggle in some old CDs…" he thought out loud.

"Okay, we're zeroing in on a good idea," Silena sounded like she was teaching a class, trying to get the right answer without giving it. "It's your one-month, right? This is your first important milestone. You can't mess it up."

"I know, hence why I'm here, asking you."

"Percy, think about what made you want to be with her. Think about what she did for you. I've always found that the best dates, the best gifts, are ones that remind me of when the couple first got together, you know?"

Percy took a deep breath, and thought back. What happened the night Annabeth and he got together? Maybe he could give her the shield he got?

" _Yeah, and shit on Tyson's memory."_

" _You're right. That'd so be spitting on his grave, to give it away…"_ Percy agreed. But still, he figured the gift idea would be the way to go. He thought back further, to Polyphemus' island, to Circe's island, when she looked like the stars in the sky sparkled around her. Then he thought back even further, to their confessions after they made it past the Sirens. "I, uh…I think I've got something."

"Really? What?" Silena wondered.

"Um…"

"Oh right, don't ruin the surprise," she turned him around toward the exit. "Alright, hop to it then!"

"Right!" he said. "Thanks, Silena!" he called as he jogged away, and toward the cabins. He went to cabin 9; the Hephaestus cabin.

" _What are you planning?"_ Riptide questioned.

" _You'll find out, and I'm gonna need your cooperation."_

"… _You aren't gonna melt me down to make a ring, are you?"_

" _No, I won't. As far as I know, I still need you for a while yet,"_ Percy claimed. As he was about to open the door, a certain someone walked straight out. "Brighteyes?"

"Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth seemed equally confused. "What are you doing here? Passing through to Hermes?" she wondered.

"Actually, I need to talk to Beckendorf."

"Oh, well, he's actually helping me with something," she claimed, acting oddly suspicious. "So, I don't think he'll be able to help you right now."

"Oh, okay, um…when will your thing be finished? Out of curiosity?"

"I don't know. I'm not really good with machines and forges and stuff like that," she claimed. "But it shouldn't take too long. You wanna wait here with me?"

"Sure," Percy agreed, both of then sitting along the outside of the cabin. "So…what did you need help with?"

"Oh, I just…" she was obviously hiding something. "I mean…you got a new shield, and Thalia's got her shield. I just thought I'd get one too."

"Oh," Percy tried to feign ignorance. "So…why are you out here?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Beckendorf likes to work alone. He says it's easier."

"Well, he may say that about the forge, but against monsters, I'd have you by my side any day."

"Oh, Percy," she smirked. "Your flirting is cringe-worthy."

"It wasn't flirting!" Percy exclaimed. "I was telling the truth!"

"Uh-huh," she said, gripping his hand. "But it was still cute of you."

Percy turned away, getting embarrassed again. "Whatever…"

"So…what did _you_ need help with?"

"Huh?" Percy wondered, even though he heard it. " _Shit! I didn't think of an excuse!"_

"From Beckendorf," she clarified.

"I, uh…you know…" he said sheepishly. "Just…stuff."

" _Clever. I have no idea how she'll see through your ruse,"_ Riptide's voice was monotonous.

" _Shut up,"_ Percy ordered it inwardly. Suddenly, he got an idea. He turned to Annabeth and put a finger to his lips. "It's a secret thing; you can't tell anyone. He actually wants help asking out Silena Beauregard. Since I'm her friend, and he's too shy to ask, he asked me for help."

"Oh," she seemed to buy it. "Yeah, I could tell they've been eyeing each other," she claimed.

"They have?"

" _No, don't ask that! You're supposed to know!"_

"Yeah," Annabeth didn't seem to care about the slip up. "But he's usually too engrossed in his toys, and Silena is always on the back of a Pegasus. It's like they both have too much trouble dealing with people."

"Kind of like us," Percy commented.

"Yep…"

"…I was lying about why I was here, by the way."

"I could tell," Annabeth replied. "It's alright. I know why you're here."

"And I know why you're here too," Percy claimed. An awkward silence formed between them for a moment. "So…after our one-month this weekend…wanna hook up Silena and Beckendorf?"

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend. "You're saying to play cupid?"

"What? Is that weird?"

"Very."

"But is it a 'yes'?"

"Nah," she said. "I mean, don't let anyone else get together with them, but like, don't interfere if the process starts, you know?"

"Now you sound like an Aphrodite kid," Percy claimed.

"Hey, I'm just saying to let it happen naturally. Like it did for us."

"Oh sure, two completely different people forced into a small rowboat together for days on end with no one else to talk to and facing deadly monsters everywhere. Real natural."

"Stop being a smart-ass and come here," she said as they kissed. Beckendorf soon emerged, calling Annabeth in, who went in and then immediately went out, holding a small bag. "He's all yours," she said, walking away.

Beckendorf looked at home within the heat of the Hephaestus cabin, which was the only cabin that always had an active fire lit. "Percy," the older man greeted. "What brings you here?"

"Hey, I have a request."

"Someone always does," he claimed. "What is it?"

"Well, how possible is it to write something into Celestial Bronze?"

xxxXXXxxx

Percy paced the shore nervously on that Saturday. He'd been mentally preparing himself for the date since…well, since Annabeth told him about it earlier that week, but to him it had been an eternity.

" _Relax, Percy, you got this,"_ Riptide assured. It was right, too. He'd gotten special permission from Chiron, he had everything planned out, he had a small bag with his gift inside of it. Everything was set to go smoothly, so long as no surprise monster attacks happen.

"I know, I know, I just wish that…my nerves weren't so on edge, you know? I feel like I'm about to be attacked by a succubus or something."

" _I could make a derogatory comparison between blondie and a succubus, but I'm above that,"_ the sword claimed. " _Oh, here she comes!"_

Percy looked, and saw Annabeth jogging toward them. They both mutually decided that they shouldn't dress up, not because they don't care, but because they'd both run out of drachmas before they could afford nice clothes at camp. So, Annabeth showed up in street clothes, a dark blue t-shirt and black leggings with running shoes. Percy himself had shown up in black jeans and a dark blue hoodie, over his Camp Half-Blood muscle shirt. They basically had matched colors, unintentionally so.

"Hey," she greeted him with a smile.

"Hey, Brighteyes," Percy greeted back, giving her a peck on the cheek. "Ready?"

"Sure, where're we going?" she wondered.

Percy turned to the water. "Agro!" he called, and soon the horse appeared. " _Alright, just like we practiced."_

The Pegasus bowed to Annabeth. " _Greetings, milady. Today I am at your humble service."_

"Wow," she said, running her fingers through his mane. Percy expected her to say something like "You trained him really well" but instead she said, "You named him after that stupid video game term?"

"W-what?" Percy questioned. Agro lifted his head and made a sort of scoff.

"Yeah, it's this thing my little brothers complain other people on their games don't understand. I…don't know what it is either, but that's not the point."

" _Percy Jackson, I will not give such a disrespectful peasant the satisfaction of riding upon my back!"_

" _Suck it up, just this once,"_ Percy begged. Thankfully, Agro stayed still while they climbed aboard. "Alright, let's go," he said as they took off.

"Um…we're not allowed to go this far out," Annabeth claimed. "And I don't really want Mr. D turning us into grapes like he promised."

"It's alright," Percy reassured her. "I asked Chiron, and he said it was alright if we came back by nightfall."

"Really? He doesn't usually give anyone permission to leave," Annabeth claimed.

"Well, maybe he saw that this was a special occasion," Percy returned. "Or maybe he just likes you."

"I think it's both," Annabeth said.

It didn't take them long at all to reach where Percy had in mind. He flew to a particular apartment building in Manhattan, located near the Queensboro Bridge. Inwardly, he wondered what mortals must've seen them as through the Mist; maybe a big bird? A remote-controlled plane maybe? Questions for later.

They landed gracefully on the roof of the apartment building. Instantly, the smell hit them. Percy had forgotten how terrible it was. Annabeth held her nose. "Where are we?" she wondered, not really looking satisfied. Percy almost broke, but he tried to remain positive, as he knew it would be worth it.

"So, you got really upset that I didn't tell you about myself, right? Okay, so I told you what happened with Poseidon, but whatever. I told you I'd share my joys, right? Well, this is both my joy and my trouble," he gestured around him. "This is where I grew up, Annabeth."

She looked around. "…I can understand why you prefer Camp Half-Blood," she noted. She then looked at Percy. "But thanks for showing me."

"Right, well, I figure after we exchange gifts, I can show you around? It won't be very fancy, since I lived kind of a…low-class life, but I mean it'll be-" he started to ramble.

"It'll be," she interrupted. "A wonderful gesture, and a good date," she assured. The two made their way to the edge of the roof, and sat with their legs hanging off. It wasn't very safe, but they'd done worse. "So…do you want to go first?"

"Do you?" Percy returned. Neither one of them had any experience exchanging gifts with really anyone, at least not in this way.

"Okay, I can go first," she said, handing Percy the bag she brought. It was the same one she was carrying out of the Hephaestus cabin. Percy gently put his hand in, and reached past the paper that she'd used to mask what was inside. Soon, he felt something cool and textured.

When he pulled it out, she saw an owl. It was a Celestial Bronze owl pendant on a sterling silver chain. Annabeth helped him put it on. The necklace was plenty big, it fit great around Percy's neck, but it didn't sag too much either, like it didn't go down to his belly-button or anything. "It's beautiful," he said genuinely, admiring the craftsmanship. "Thank you."

"Well, you know. I figure, you should be able to have a reminder that, um…I'm watching out for you, you know?" she explained, her face red. Percy smiled, and kissed her.

"Thank you, Brighteyes," he repeated, letting a little bit of time pass before he presented his own gift. "So, before you find out what it is, know that I'm glad that you got to Beckendorf first, because mine took a lot longer for him to make. But I don't if it can compare to yours," he claimed. Annabeth raised an eyebrow, now extremely curious as to what it is. She reached her hand in. "Careful," he warned, and she soon found out why. Her hands felt leather, and soon her fingers were circled around a grip. Annabeth pulled out a new dagger, and unsheathed it.

Its design was a bit different from the one Luke gave her, adopting a bit more of a leaf design, with a hollow pommel (which is like the weirdest thing). It felt perfect in her hands, maybe even better than her old one, which she'd grown accustomed to for over eight years. Annabeth turned it over, and noticed another little bit. Etched into the flat of the blade were two words: _Evermore onward_.

"Oh, Percy, it's gorgeous," Annabeth said, genuinely in awe that not only Percy had thought to do this but that Beckendorf made it so beautifully and in such a short another of time.

"And also, um…" Percy drew Riptide, and showed her the far end of the blade, near the tip. Those same words, _Evermore onward_ , were etched into his blade as well. "I might've…gone a bit overboard."

"Oh no, this is just right," Annabeth claimed, kissing him again.

"Its name is, um…Tríaina."

"Trident," Annabeth translated. "…I never told you what my other dagger's name is, did I?"

"No," Percy claimed. "You didn't."

"It's Ormitírio."

"Oathkeeper," he translated. "It's a good name, for a good weapon."

"Just like Trident is a good name for this weapon," Annabeth claimed as she sheathed her new knife. "Percy, I…don't know what to say."

He smirked as he thought about it. "How about 'let's get going because my boyfriend is starving'?" he wondered. Annabeth laughed.

"Alright, Seaweed Brain, lead the way!"

 **Author's Note:**

 **Okay, as promised, here's the first of two side stories before Titan's Curse picks up. I apologize if you're here for the heavier stuff, as this and the next one will be mostly fluff, I feel like it's necessary to have lighter chapters. Trust me, if you knew the pain and suffering and anguish that was coming, you'd be thankful for this as well. anyway, these two chapters are basically building up Percy and Annabeth's relationship, so...look forward to that, I guess. Oh, and also Silena and Beckendorf, because I want them to be actual characters rather than just one-note assholes who die in the fifth book.**

 **Let me know what you think in a review!**


	25. It Was About Me, Wasn't It

" _You're saying your blade speaks to you as well, just as I do?"_ Agro wondered as Percy rode on his back. They were going around the camp, keeping the Pegasus in shape. A few months have passed; it was October now. All of the summer campers had left, including Annabeth (unfortunately) and Thalia (thankfully).

"Yeah," Percy answered.

" _Ask him if he's heard of the Rascal Flatts,"_ Riptide said.

"Have you heard of the Rascal Flatts?"

" _Is that a new brand of hay?"_

"He says that he hasn't," Percy conveyed.

" _How about like Cara Dillon? Maybe he's into folk?"_

"What? No, if anything horses are into Celtic or something like that," Percy claimed.

" _What nonsense are you babbling about, peasant?"_

"You don't listen to music much, do you Agro?"

" _What is music?"_

"Oh gods, we have a _lot_ of work to do…" the son of Poseidon muttered.

" _Are these the kinds of pedantic drivel that your sword inquires about?"_ Agro wondered.

"Pretty much. It also makes references a lot, anything from movies to internet stupidity."

" _It isn't stupidity. It's young art,"_ Riptide claimed.

"It's stupid," Percy corrected.

" _Dick."_

"You're the one that grows longer," Percy mocked it.

" _I do not understand. You claim that the sword 'references' movies?"_

"Yeah. You _know_ what a movie is, right?"

" _I cannot say I do. Is it a food?"_

"No, it isn't. It's a series of moving pictures with sound played over top of it to tell a story," Percy explained. "Jeez, how long were trapped on that island?"

" _Approximately eight hundred years. I assumed the beast would devour me, but it seemed he had forgotten about me."_

Percy grimaced. He couldn't imagine being trapped on Polyphemus' island for eight hundred years.

Before their conversation could go on any longer, a big brown thing shot in front of them, causing Agro to rear back in surprise. When Percy followed the object with his own eyes, he saw that it was only Silena on her Pegasus, opting to push her steed a lot harder than Percy was his. "You wanna catch up to them?" Percy questioned, sensing Agro's anticipation.

" _Perhaps you aren't as dull as you look!"_ Agro agreed, racing toward them. It took a bit of time, as Silena was speeding like a bullet through the sky, but they were eventually riding side-by-side.

"Oh hey, Percy," she had to yell over the wind before they slowed down. "What's up?"

"Just noticed that you were breaking the speed limit," he claimed. Silena gave him a look like "are you kidding me?" before rolling her eyes. "You were about to go out of camp boundaries."

"So? Last time I checked, you snuck out of camp just fine last year."

"I was referring to the fact that you would probably freeze to death if you left at this height and in those clothes," he claimed, noting her wearing nothing but a tube top and shorts; perfect summer wear.

"No, I wouldn't," Silena claimed. "You underestimate me, Percy."

"Well, you _are_ a daughter of Aphrodite," he teased, smirking. "You aren't exactly known for being tough."

The girl pouted. "You should check that smart mouth of yours."

"Whatever," Percy shrugged. "How about a little race then, if you're so set on flying fast?"

Silena laughed. "That's rich! There's no way in Hades that your Pegasus could out-fly Lixis."

" _Silence!"_ Agro snapped in Percy's head, whinnying. " _I shall have your head for such insults! This lower-class breed is no match for me!"_

"I think my steed disagrees," Percy said. "Come on, it'll be fun!"

"Well…"

"Okay, how about I up the ante? If you win, I'll do you one favor, anything. And if I win," he smirked. "You've got to tell me who you like."

"…Did my siblings put you up to this?" she questioned.

"The only Aphrodite kid I talk to is you; the others hate me and call me Percabeth all the time."

" _They call blondie that too. It's a ship name,"_ Riptide stated.

" _What ship? You mean like the Queen Anne's Revenge?"_

" _No, a ship is something that people give to two fictional characters who they think would make a good couple. It's a fandom thing."_

" _It sounds like you have experience."_

" _I do not!"_ Riptide claimed.

"Gee, I wonder why," Silena feigned ignorance. "And what could you possibly offer me that I can't get somewhere else?"

"Not much, but I'm sure you'll think of something."

" _Hey, don't you already know who she likes?"_ Riptide questioned.

" _Yeah, but I wanna hear her say it."_

" _You do realize she could have you show up naked to dinner or something, right? You promised her anything."_

" _Yeah,_ if _she wins."_

" _And she shall not!"_ Agro roared.

And so, the two raced off, literally, back toward the stables. It was definitely a close match. Agro was definitely pushed harder than normal, but he relished the challenge. In the end, though, Silena inched ahead. "Alright!" she exclaimed, stopping Lixis and getting off of it. "You did great!" she complimented it.

" _I apologize, Percy Jackson. It appears that my imprisonment has hindered my performance more so than expected,"_ Agro said as Percy got off of him. " _I shall go rectify this as once!"_ he shouted as he flew off.

"Ah, shit," Percy cursed disappointed at his loss. "Alright, fine, what do you want?"

"Hm?" she thought about it. "I dunno. Give me a while to think about it, alright?"

xxxXXXxxx

That night, Percy would get his answer, and not in the dirty way.

It was dinnertime, and everything was going smoothly. Then suddenly they got an unexpected announcement. "I've had a grand idea!" Silena stood from the Aphrodite table, spreading her arms out. Her voice sounded bigger than usual. At first, Percy thought it was because she was yelling to get the attention of the campers, but then he started to suspect something else. "I propose a new event!"

"Like what?" an Athena kid questioned.

"A signing competition!" the girl exclaimed excitedly. "Performed by all of the counselors!"

"…That sounds like a horrible idea," the Apollo counselor said. "Because we'd win."

"Oh, don't be so confident! There are _many_ wonderful performers!" Silena claimed, staring straight at the boy. "Oh, but not all of the counselors are here…how about all of the male counselors? They all seem to be present!"

"What?"

"That's totally unfair!"

"Oh, don't whine," Silena ordered, shutting everyone up. "Show some chivalry for once!" she turned to Chiron and Mr. D, at the head table. "What do you two think?"

"I believe-" Chiron started.

"I think that's a fantastic idea," Mr. D interrupted, nudging Chiron.

"I…agree. How does next weekend sound?"

"Wonderful. May I be excused?" she asked suddenly.

"Of course," Mr. D allowed. Silena stepped away from her table, and then pointed at Percy.

"And you can come too," she ordered, looking directly into his eyes. Immediately, he wanted to oblige.

"Yes, ma'am," he said, though he wasn't sure why. He stood, and followed her out of the dining pavilion, going down to the cabins.

" _Jeez, you're like a lovesick puppy,"_ Riptide mocked. Percy chose to ignore it.

Silena turned to Percy and smiled. For some reason, Percy had an overwhelming urge to kiss her. She just looked so beautiful to him, her jet black hair shining from the full moon's light. "You've grown wonderfully into yourself, Percy," she claimed.

"Um…thanks?" Percy couldn't help but be confused and was a bit preoccupied with trying to resist his male urges. "Um…if you're, uh…hitting on me, I already-"

"Oh don't worry about that nagging feeling," she interrupted. "I just have that effect on people."

"What are you talking about, Silena?"

"Oh!" the girl looked like she just realized something. "I'm sorry, I forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"Well, that I don't look like I usually do, here in my daughter's body."

"You're Aphrodite?" Percy questioned.

"Yes, couldn't you tell? See, Silena is my favorite daughter and she's at a critical juncture."

"What's a juncture?" Percy wondered.

"A crossroads," Aphrodite claimed. "In her love life, of course."

"Oh…and why are you telling me this?"

"Because you owe her a favor, remember?"

"Oh, right," Percy just kind of accepted it. "So what do I do?"

"Well, you know who she likes, right?"

"Beckendorf," Percy said.

"Right, the Hephaestus boy. I swear, he's the only decent-looking one in that entire trash heap. Ugh! I could go on all day, _but_ , the point is that you need to help him…express himself. Because if my millennia of experience with his father are any indication, he's terrible at expressing himself."

"You mean your millennia of trying to cheat on his father," Percy corrected. Aphrodite pouted. Percy found it to be as cute as when her daughter did it.

" _Dude, she's a goddess,"_ Riptide warned. " _Show some respect."_

"Yeah!" Aphrodite agreed.

"Okay, so say I help you with all of this. What do I get out of it?" Percy questioned. Aphrodite pouted again.

"Oh!" she whined, stomping her foot. "You wouldn't be back-talking me if I were Artemis or Hera! I _am_ a goddess!"

"What could you possibly do to me, love goddess?" Percy continued egging her on.

"If you don't help my daughter get together with the guy of her dreams, then I'll break up you and Annabeth! Violently!" she threatened, which immediately shut Percy up.

"…I'll help Beckendorf get together with Silena now," he said obediently. Aphrodite smirked.

"Good, see to it that you do, and don't tell my daughter what I told you to do," she ordered. Percy nodded before Silena lurched forward. Percy had to catch her, or else she would've face-planted into the dirt.

"Oh, gods…" she moaned, standing back up. "Where am I? What happened?"

"You…have a weird relationship with your mother, don't you?" Percy wondered.

"Oh!" Silena stomped the ground, almost exactly like her mother did in her body. "I hate it when she does that! Why does she always think she can control my life?" she seethed. "What did she say? Did she put you up to something?" she got up in Percy's face and pointed at him accusingly. "Well, whatever it was, _don't_ do it, alright?"

"Why not?" Percy wondered, not really seeing the issue.

"It's just…" she tried to think of the words. "It was about my love life, right? Or lack thereof?"

"Yeah," Percy admitted.

"Imagine if your godly parent got really possessive and touchy with your love life. It's _creepy_!"

"I don't know; the way it sounded, it sounded like she just wanted what was best for you," Percy claimed.

"Yeah…yeah, I suppose you'd think that. She's the master of charmspeak, after all. You can't really disagree with her," she said, backing away. "Well, whatever you do, don't do what she says. It'll only make things more complicated for me."

"…I can't really promise anything," Percy stated. Then Silena looked at him, with the biggest bluest eyes Percy had ever seen, like she were begging him to just go along with her. Up until then, Percy could only really see her as a friend or a sister. Now, he could see her making his own heart throb; she really was her mother's daughter after all.

"…Fine," she conceded. "But you still owe me a favor," she reminded him.

"Dully noted," Percy agreed, both of them walking back to the diving pavilion, where literally every camper there was confused as all hell.

xxxXXXxxx

Percy snuck out of the Hermes cabin that night, and walked down to the lake. He sat down once he got ankle-deep into the crystal blue waters, feeling the familiar surge of energy he got.

Since Polyphemus' island, Percy's powers have been dried up. He'd been working at regaining them overtime, but with each failed attempt Percy's morale stooped lower. He managed to retain the ability to heal when he stepped into water, and recently he'd regained the ability to get that boost of power and adrenaline when he came into contact with the water. To Percy, it felt a lot more potent than before; like if before it gave him double strength, now it gave him like ten times the amount of power. Somehow, he knew that this ability would be critical in the months to come, especially with Luke and Kronos growing more powerful every day.

Oftentimes, Percy wondered how much raw energy had to be contained within Luke's sword, Backbiter, in order to release that potent of an energy wave like it did against Percy on the Princess Andromeda. When Percy was hit by the attack, it felt like he'd been hit by a bullet train (which is way faster than a normal train if you didn't know). It made the hits he'd taken from Polyphemus feel like the love taps Annabeth hit him with when she got annoyed with him.

Back on topic, Percy's powers, other than the above-mentioned boost and healing, were inconsistent at best. Yes, he could move water if he concentrated, but never in the way in which he needed. Like if he willed the water to simply rise into the air, it would send a water slice to like cut a volleyball in half or something. Then, when Percy tried to really concentrate, well, just read on.

Percy tensed his hands just above the water, willing the liquid to come up and form a ball. It was a simple use of his powers and he was still unable to perform it properly. Percy felt the tug at his gut, but when he tried to pull it, it was like it scooted out of his grasp. The water beneath his hands rippled, churning from the energy he was putting into it. Percy wasn't breathing, wasn't moving at all; all of his focus was on trying to move this stupid ball of water, and it never worked.

Percy broke, gasping for air and then panting; he'd been straining himself too hard. At first, when this happened, Percy would get angry, but now it had almost become a nightly routine. It didn't make him mad anymore, just dour. Though, Riptide often argued that this was worse for Percy than being angry.

Either way, Percy gave up quickly after his first hard failed attempt of making a ball. He reached into his pocket and dug out a drachma. He splashed the water, and the flipped the coin into the resulting mist. "Show me Annabeth Chase," Percy said to the mist, and soon, an image of her appeared.

She was in sleepwear, lying belly-down on her bed, staring down at a book. Her curly blond hair was up in a messy bun. "Howdy!" Percy greeted. Annabeth jumped at his voice and looked up at him.

"Gods, Percy! Don't do that!" she exclaimed. The boy laughed, and soon she smiled along with him. "Nice jacket," she said off-handedly as he caught his breath.

He looked down, and only then noticed that he was wearing the one she got him for his birthday; it was an extremely comfortable burgundy sweat jacket. "Yeah, thanks; my girlfriend bought it for me."

"You should tell her that she has _great_ taste," the blonde smirked.

"Alright, she has fantastic taste in both clothes _and_ guys."

"Don't flatter yourself, Seaweed Brain," she said. "Yo, what the hell happened to your hair?"

Percy was surprised by the question. He felt it, brushing it out of his eyes, with it, admittedly, appearing as a shaggy, unkempt black mess on his head; it was long enough to shroud his eyes in the front and went down his neck. "I grew it out."

"Ew," she said. "Cut it before we meet up next."

"Nope," Percy returned. "I'm going to wait until spring I think. Otherwise, the back of my neck might freeze or something. You never know."

Annabeth chuckled. "Oh, my heart bleeds," she joked.

"So whatcha doing?" Percy wondered. "I hope I wasn't interrupting you."

"I," she sat up, and lifted up a textbook which Percy couldn't read the title of. "Am studying for APUSH."

"Um…"

"Advanced Placement U.S. History," she translated.

"Less foreign," he agreed. "Sounds boring."

"Eh," she shrugged, not seeming to care. "It's a lot less dramatic than Greek myths, but it's alright. Too political though."

"Yeah, everything was simpler with Greece; it was basically Athens and that's it."

"…It's a good thing you're cute, Percy, because you aren't winning any awards for intelligence," she said.

"Wow, thanks," he pouted.

"Hey, if it makes you feel better, your relative lack of intelligence makes me feel smarter," she assured. "Besides, it doesn't mean you aren't useful. The world needs doers as much as it needs thinkers."

"Uh-huh," he said, not actually having been offended. He'd long since come to terms with his own stupidity, at least when it came to general knowledge. "So what about the school year other than that?"

"Well, school is boring as always. I'd rather have a dagger in my hand than a pencil, you know?"

"Right. And how's life with Thalia been?"

"Well, she…" Annabeth hesitated, and for a moment looked worried. "You don't normally ask about her," she noted. "Why? Is something wrong? Did Chiron-"

"No, everything's fine," Percy assured. "I'm just, you know, trying to be a good boyfriend; keeping myself engaged in your life and stuff."

"Well, one of us has to be," she said, hinting at how bored she was while away from camp. "As for Thalia: she's acclimating better than I thought she would. She's been working really hard, too. She's like you; a genius fighter, but lackluster in academics. Plus she's catching up from being in a tree for years, _plus_ my step-mom is having her get a driver's license since this is her senior year and she'll have to either drive to Camp Half-Blood from then on, or get a job and blah, blah, blah…"

"…Can't wait to drive," Percy commented. "And how old is she now? She was twelve when she became a tree; that was seven years ago, right?"

"Biologically she's seventeen," Annabeth explained. "At least, that's what Chiron said. Her birthday is the 22nd of December."

"Which is like a week after when we're supposed to meet up," Percy recalled. "We're still on for that, right?"

"Unless Chiron says otherwise. I mean, we're on winter break anyway," she stated. "Thalia will have her license by then, so she can pick you up on the way to Maine."

"Yeah, and we can finally see Grover again," Percy agreed. "It's been forever."

"Yeah. Do you even know why he contacted Chiron?"

"I guess he found some demigods or something; he wanted until December to scope things out, and asked for us to meet up there; apparently there's a formal going on, so we shouldn't really be noticed as guests."

"Makes sense," Annabeth replied, closing her book and putting it on her nightstand. The two sat quietly for a moment. "So…you wanna drop the act?"

"Huh?"

"You never message me just to ask how I've been, Percy. Which is fine, it's smart to only use drachmas when you need to tell me something, so…what's up?" she asked.

"…You're too smart, you know that?"

She smiled. "I like it when you say things like that."

"Okay, well, long-story-short, Camp Half-Blood is having a singing competition."

"…why?"

"Because Aphrodite wanted us to. It's only with the counselors, and only the guy ones. So the Stoll's, the midget from the Apollo cabin-"

"Michael Yew?"

"Yeah, him. Anyway, those guys, the Dionysus twins, and…Beckendorf."

"Okay…" Annabeth's eyes blanked out, like she was trying to put the pieces together, even the ones she didn't have. Percy found it cute when she did it, but not so cute when he had to get her attention. "So why would Aphrodite want this…?"

"Okay, so also, Ace Detective, I owe Silena a favor, and Aphrodite asked me to help whoever we thought should best go with her."

Annabeth had a moment of realization. "Oh…" she held it out. "So she wants you to help Beckendorf sing? I mean, not that he'll need it. Have you ever heard him hum while he's working? Gods, he sounds like Avi Kaplan!"

"I don't know who that is."

"He's alike a really good bass singer from an A Capella group," she explained.

"Right…anyway, I was thinking I just give him a song, but I mean-"

"No, you should sing with him," Annabeth said.

"Why?" he said, though he already knew the answer.

"Because I want to hear it," she said matter-of-factly.

Percy sighed. "Thought you'd say that," he claimed. "But you won't be able to hold a message for that long."

"Damn…alright, then call me after and tell me how it went, alright?"

"…Fine, but you're making the call this time, Brighteyes. Got that?"

"Brighteyes agrees to these terms," she said. "When is it?"

"Next Saturday, after dinner," Percy said. "So you should call around eleven-ish."

"Alright…hey, I think I've got a song idea already."

xxxXXXxxx

"Yo, Beckendorf!" Percy greeted. "Whatcha doing?"

"Gah!" the man threw his hands up in frustration. "Whatever the hell I _can_ do, with this stupid competition coming up!"

Percy was almost taken aback by the anger of the son of Hephaestus. "O-oh, well…need some help?"

"I _need_ to not be doing this right now," he claimed.

"…Is it really that bad?" Percy questioned. "I mean, all you have to do is sing, right?"

"Yeah, but I have no idea what song to sing, or if I'm any good or not, or-"

"Chiron has that covered," Percy reminded him. "With the magic device that makes you sing better in the amphitheater."

"Even still…"

"Oh…" Percy feigned a realization. "You're nervous about who will hear you."

Beckendorf turned away, obviously not used to talking about his feelings. The dude was like 6'3" and built as hell. It was no wonder barely anyone talked to him; he was way too intimidating, but his heart was soft as butter once you got to know him. He didn't really get angry or anything: he was always laughing and joking around about his work. He was a lax dude.

"Well, yeah, the whole camp will-"

"No, no, no; there's _someone_ in particular that you're nervous about them hearing."

"…you don't know that," he mumbled, almost inaudibly.

"Is it," Percy leaned to whisper. "Silena Beauregard?"

"How'd you know?!" Beckendorf questioned, rearing back defensively. Percy shrugged.

"Dude, everyone except for her knows," Percy claimed.

"Aw shit me!" he exclaimed.

"No thanks."

"Well, then what do I do?"

"Alright, listen up. I've got a plan, and it's absolutely foolproof," Percy claimed. "And by foolproof, I mean I let my girlfriend come up with it."

"Your girlfriend, who is one of the most irritable and unapproachable demigods at camp during the summer," Beckendorf clarified.

"Well, in her defense, she's become less so overtime. And besides, this is coming from tall, dark, and terrifying?"

"…That's fair. Alright, let's say I go along with your plan to…get together with Silena…" he struggled out the words. "…What would you have me do?"

xxxXXXxxx

Everyone remained gathered on Saturday night after dinner, with everyone setting up for the singing competition. Most of the grunt work was done by younger campers, who grumbled in protest but did as they were told like good little sprouts.

The amphitheater was specially set up to capture as much sound as possible, with a magic widget that Hephaestus whipped up to instantly make a singer's voice sound exactly how they want it to sound, with the exact background music they need and everything. Sitting in front of the stage were the three judges of the competition; the usual Mr. D and Chiron, along with special guest Aphrodite. She claimed to be standing in for Apollo, god of music, but Percy knew the real reason; she had to see if Percy made good on his promise. He could tell that this was the case by the sly, threatening look she gave him when he glanced over at her.

All of the campers were seated, usually in accordance to their cabins, though there were some oddballs here and there just sitting alone. Percy saw one new Apollo kid finding a seat by himself, saying something about "finding the best acoustic center seat."

There would be only four performances tonight. Others could have volunteered, but none did, leaving the male counselors. Beckendorf, if he was Caucasian, would've been white as a sheet from stress. He looked like he was about to puke. Good thing they were up last.

The Stoll's went first, doing a rendition of "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better." It was way better than Percy had expected from them; they even included choreography to go along with their performance, which is more than Percy can say for him and Beckendorf. Scores out of ten from Mr. D, Chiron, and Aphrodite respectively: 6, 7, 7.

Next up was the Dionysus twins, Pollux and Castor. They did the Great Big Sea version of "Drunken Sailor", even acting out the different things they were doing, with Castor being the drunken sailor in question, and Pollux being…everyone else. Scores: 10, 7, 6.

Third was Michael Yew, the midget with a temper. Percy never really liked him, but he was the best fighter out of the Apollo kids, making him one of the best fighters at camp in turn, so Percy had to respect him at least a little bit. He did his own version of "My Way" by Frank Sinatra. It was chillingly good, coming from both his magically enhanced voice, plus the fact that he was already the son of Apollo. Scores: 9, 9, 8.

Finally, Beckendorf and Percy were on. Right before they walked on stage, Percy gave Beckendorf a little pep talk. "Don't focus on the crowd," he ordered.

"Kinda hard," Beckendorf claimed.

" _Don't_ focus on the crowd," Percy ordered once again, more urgently. "If you do, it'll suck, alright?" he explained. "Focus on something in the background, focus on a particular stair or a star in the sky."

Both of them took a deep breath, and then another one, before walking onto the stage. It was the last performance, and people were expecting a good one by now, especially after Yew's.

Percy managed to glance at Silena, who looked bored by everything. He was sure that she'd much rather be either in bed or at the Pegasus stables. He kind of felt bad for her, that her mother took such a part in her life. Then Percy reminded himself that at least Aphrodite was trying to care about her daughter. She locked eyes with him for a fraction of a second before Percy looked away. He knew the message got across that he was trying to tell; pay attention to this one.

He thought about the song they were singing, and chords started to sound around him, exactly the progression he willed to play. The song itself was extremely slow and almost hypnotic in a way, just from how it sounded, in any version. He took a deep breath once again, and began singing. He was up for the first bit.

 _Black is the color of my true love's hair_

 _Her face so soft and wondrous fair_

 _The purest eyes_

 _And gentlest hands_

 _I love the ground where on she stands_

 _I love the ground where on she stands…_

 _Black is the color of my true love's hair…_

There was a break for more chords and ambiance, before Beckendorf had to come in for the second part. This was what Percy was most worried about; that he'd feel intimidated by either Percy or the audience or whatever. But when Percy looked over, he seemed calm, almost in a trance. His eyes weren't wandering, his hands weren't fidgeting as they usually were.

He was staring directly into Silena's eyes.

 _I love my lover_

 _And where she goes._

 _I love the ground on which she goes_

 _And still I hope_

 _That the time will come_

 _Still I hope that the time will come_

 _When she and I will be as one_

 _When she and I will be as one_

 _Black is the color of my true…love's hair_

Another break. People who had been murmuring had stopped; all attention was focused on this, as more chords played, and the two harmonized with them and formed small little melodies as it played, before finally coming back in for a few final words.

 _Black is the color of my true love's hair_

 _Her face so soft and wondrous fair_

 _The purest eyes_

 _And the gentlest hands_

 _I love the ground where on she stands_

 _I love the ground where on she stands_

 _Black is the color…of my true love's…hair…_

The song ended there. The crowd was silenced by the haunting beauty of it. Percy silently thanked Athena for birthing Annabeth; she had absolutely impeccable song choice.

One clap. Silena was standing, slowly clapping among her cabinmates. Then a few more stood and joined in, and soon the entire amphitheater was roaring in applause unlike what had been given for any other performance. Scores: 10, 10, 10.

It took a few minutes for everyone to file out of the amphitheater after the competition was decided. The judges all collectively decided to leave everything until morning, as it was approaching eleven at night, and everyone was exhausted. Beckendorf was about to clock out, after staying for a minute to talk with Percy, when someone else walked up to him.

Percy noticed her first. "Hey, Silena," he greeted. She jumped slightly at her name, like she didn't want to be seen. She had been walking up bashfully, her head down, her hands behind her back, and biting her lip. Beckendorf went silent, and turned to face her. "I'll, uh…leave you two alone for this," he said, sneaking away. He turned a corner, and came face-to-face with Aphrodite, who joined him in eavesdropping.

"Um…Silena," Beckendorf started. "I, uh…hey."

"Hey, Charlie…" she said.

" _The dude has a first name?"_ Riptide wondered.

"Shh!" Percy ordered.

"Um…" Silena wasn't sure how to put this. "I don't…want to sound weird, but…that song…was it about me?" she wondered. He stood there slack-jawed like an idiot. "Not that I, uh…think that's bad. I mean, I'd _like_ it to be, but…" she trailed off.

It took Beckendorf a moment to realize what she'd said. Then he smiled, his cheeks turning tomato red. "Y-yeah, it was," he confirmed. "I-is that a-alright?"

"Y-yeah," she smiled too, her cheeks turning rosy. "Um…Charlie, I, um…I mean, that is to say…uh…"

Aphrodite groaned in Percy's ear at her daughter's inability to speak. Beckendorf just chuckled at it. "Um…Silena? D-do you want to…I don't know…come down into my forge sometime, and help me organize it?"

Silena, being a neat-freak, found this offer…well…

"Oh, Charlie!" she grinned, and her face turned even redder. "I thought you'd never ask!"

The two awkwardly hugged and then arranged a time, before walking out toward the cabins while holding hands. "Yes!" Percy pumped his fist in victory once they left. "It's about time!"

"Alright! We did it!" Aphrodite exclaimed, holding up her hand. "High-five!" Percy obliged, but forgot that she was a goddess, and subsequently got high-fived straight into the stairs, cracking them and probably his back. "Ooh, sorry…"

"Ow…" he moaned as he stood. "So, am I good?"

"Good on what?"

"I mean, you're _not_ gonna break up me and Annabeth?"

"Oh," she waved it off. "I was never gonna do that this soon," she claimed. "But fine, _I_ won't force you to do anything."

"Oh, thank you!"

"But!" she interrupted his celebration, and got that sly look again. "I never said anything about roughing it up a little!" her voice was still sweet and innocent.

"Wait, so you're-"

"I gotta go," she interrupted again.

"Wait, but I still-"

"Ciao!" she disappeared in a puff of extremely flowery perfume. Percy was left completely confused.

" _Best not to worry about it,"_ Riptide claimed. At first, Percy ignored it. " _Hey! Earth to Percy! You've got an IM to answer in like two minutes."_

That shook Percy back out of his daze. He was going to go back to the lake, but he didn't have time, so he just plopped down on the stage of the amphitheater, with all of the equipment still set up and everything.

Soon enough, an image shimmered in front of him for a second, before Annabeth was looking at him expectantly. Instead of informing her right away, though, Percy had to take the time to laugh.

"Are you in the bathroom with the shower running?" he said. "You know, I could make a comment about your clothes and why they're still on, but I'm above that."

She frowned. "Don't make fun of me! It's the only way I could make enough mist for long enough," she explained. "So spill, how'd it go?"

"Well, we won the competition."

"Boring!" she announced. "What about the stuff that matters?"

"Well, Aphrodite agreed not to break us up," Percy continued.

"You never explained that she threatened it in the first place," Annabeth reminded him. "And what the hell, why didn't you tell me?"

"Well…she might've not wanted me to," he tried to come up with an excuse.

"You forgot," she called his bluff.

"I forgot," he agreed.

"But what about Silena and Beckendorf?"

Percy took a deep breath, keeping her in as much suspense as possible. "They…now despise each other," Percy said it with a straight face.

"…You're kidding…" Annabeth seemed almost horrified.

"No," Percy claimed. Then he smirked. "I'm totally lying through my teeth."

"You dick!" she exclaimed, laughing. "So they're together?"

"Yep, and apparently their first date is cleaning up his forge," he said. "I guess it fits for a pair of weirdos."

"Well, if you think about it, our first date was when you got turned into a guinea pig…strange metaphor?"

Percy frowned, not wanting to be reminded of that incident on Circe's island. He still had an unhealthy craving for lettuce. "Or we could say our first date was when we got together. I mean, it was a moonlit night on the shore, and it was romantic, and we kissed."

"I like that better," she agreed. "Anyway, how was the event otherwise?"

"Eh," Percy shrugged. "Safer than last summer's surprise event."

"You mean the chariot race? Yeah, I could see that," Annabeth claimed. "How were the performances?"

"They were all good. Remind me that I need to learn 'My Way' by Frank Sinatra."

Annabeth chuckled. "Please, as if you could pull that one off."

"Hey watch it, Brighteyes," Percy warned playfully. "And hey," he smiled. "I think there might be time for an encore. What do you think?"

"I think…that that's a great idea. And what song is gonna be sung as an encore?"

"How about audience's choice?"

Annabeth giggled. "Okay, um…"

" _Ooh, ooh, sing 'What Hurts The Most' by the Rascal Flatts,"_ Riptide suggested a little too excitedly.

" _What? No, I'm trying to be romantic, not break up with her,"_ Percy answered.

" _Then what about 'It's Yours If You Want It'?"_

" _Dude, what's with you and the Rascal Flatts lately?"_

" _I can't help it!"_ Riptide claimed. " _It's a deep, profound, passionate love!"_

"Percy," Annabeth got his attention. "Stop talking to your sword for a minute."

"…Weird metaphor?"

"I've decided which song I want you to sing, but it's newer than the ones we usually listen to."

"Alright."

"Sing 'I Don't Want To Miss A Thing' by Aerosmith. Whatever version you want."

As soon as she said it, and as soon as he got into his head which version he wanted, music started playing. Percy silently cursed Riptide, because now he had country on the brain, causing the Mark Chesnutt version to play. Still, he sang.

 _I could stay awake just to hear you breathing_

 _Watch you smile while you are sleeping_

 _While you're far away dreaming_

 _I could spend my life in this sweet surrender_

 _I could stay lost in this moment forever_

 _Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure_

 _Don't want to close my eyes_

 _I don't want to fall asleep_

 _Cause I'd miss you, babe_

 _And I don't want to miss a thing_

 _Cause even when I dream of you_

 _The sweet dream will never do_

 _I'd still miss you babe_

 _And I don't want to miss a thing_

Percy continued singing, trying to take in all of the features of Annabeth's face, her beautiful eye, and her lips, and her rosy cheeks as he sang to and about her. He tried to remember back to when they first met: that first argument. Could he have really predicted this outcome?

Not a chance in hell, but he wouldn't change it for the world.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Alright, so it's a stormy Wednesday afternoon, and I just played through the entirety of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai in less than three hours, so...I figure now's a good a time as ever to post this second little filler chapter while I get some headway into Titan's Curse. I'm think I start regular uploads again by Saturday my time, so...maybe, if all goes well. If things don't work out, I'll put a little update on the first chapter to let you guys know.**

 **As for which version of _Black Is the Color_ I envisioned when writing this, I gave a hint; it's the one with Avi Kaplan in it. The guy did a duet with Peter Hollens and it's absolutely gorgeous. I'd highly recommend listening to it, and the version by Celtic Woman is pretty good too.**

 **Anyway, given that this was a musical chapter, I'm thinking I share another character song. I already shared my personal pick for Percy being the song this fic was named after. this time, I'm gonna share his sword's song, Ritpide. Now, Riptide really doesn't care, it just wants to have a good time, right? Occasionally it'll step in to help, but mostly it just makes jokes and parties, right? Well, then I propose that the song that best fits it is _Flyers_ by BRADIO. It was used as the incredibly misleading opening of Death Parade (which is a good show btw), and there's an excellent English cover by Y. Chang; hey there he is again. The song is basically one big party and is a celebration of not giving a fuck and just partying til you fly. It's great.**

 **Anyhoo, let me know what you thought in a review, and if you want, ask me what other characters you want me to give a song!**


	26. Not How He Expected It To Be

Being surrounded by a monster who he didn't know how to beat and a military helicopter preparing to riddle him with bullets as he was defending two unarmed and untrained demigods, all while one of his arms was rendered practically useless, wasn't exactly how Percy imagined his reunion with Annabeth.

Let's examine how horribly he fucked up to get to that point, shall we?

Percy had met Thalia and Annabeth at the latter's dad's apartment, and now he was alone in the back seat of Thalia's rented car, almost at their destination. A few months back, basically right after all of the summer campers left, their friend Grover had sent a distress call to Chiron at camp, claiming that two powerful demigods were somewhere in the school he'd been near.

See, Grover was currently on a search to find the lost god Pan, but when he felt, or in his case smelled, the demigods, he couldn't just ignore them, but he wanted time to pinpoint who they were and exactly what they were dealing with.

Now, as for why Chiron decided to send three of his most valuable and powerful demigods to go get them, Percy didn't have the faintest idea. Theoretically, they should have been the three least likely candidates for the mission, since their scent would have been powerful enough to attract even more monsters than normal, but he insisted on those three in particular.

" _Maybe he knew there was a tough monster that he only trusted you guys to beat?"_ Riptide offered.

"Maybe…" Percy muttered.

"We're here," Thalia announced as they drove up to a literal medieval castle. It was made of stone and was situated dangerously close to a cliff which overlooked the ocean.

"I'm…not liking the looks of this," Annabeth said.

"Preaching to the choir on that one," Percy agreed. All three of them stepped out to hear the crunch of the snow under their shoes. Speaking of snow, which had been falling basically nonstop all throughout the car ride, there was a packed layer beneath their feet, and even on the roads. Percy was glad that Chiron had rented all-wheel drive for them for this assignment.

Thalia turned to Annabeth. "You have the bag?" she asked. Annabeth held it up; it contained their formal clothes for the dance. Percy grimaced.

"I almost forgot…would've preferred if I forgot."

"Don't whine," Annabeth ordered as the three walked to the front gates. They got pretty much without a cinch, aside from having to explain to the chaperones why they were there; that they were guests of Grover Underwood, for the semi-formal dance. They were led to a set of bathrooms, where they had to change.

Percy could never tie a tie, and this was no exception. He ended up just letting it hang untied around his neck, and walked out. He was wearing a simple pair of dress pants, dress shoes, a white dress shirt, and a black vest. He stood there waiting for a few minutes, waiting for the girls to finish. " _Okay, don't be slack-jawed, alright?"_

"Dude, when have I _ever_ gotten slack-jawed?" Percy questioned. "…What does that mean again?"

" _Just…don't act like an idiot. You're her boyfriend; you gotta be smooth, suave. Basically I'm telling you to act like James Bond."_

Percy smirked. "Do you expect me to talk?"

" _No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!"_ it went along with the joke.

When the girls came out, Annabeth immediately caught Percy's eye. She had a jet black spaghetti strap short dress with black stockings on, and her makeup was absolutely flawless. She looked incredibly uncomfortable in her high heels, but they were a requirement for girls.

Thalia looked equally uncomfortable, but in her whole aesthetic. She wore a more traditional dress that went down to her ankles, and wore matching black heels. Her makeup hadn't changed from when they arrived, as she always had dark eye shadow and that's basically it.

Annabeth looked at Percy disapprovingly. "What?" he questioned.

"Really?" she wondered, walking up to him and taking both ends of his tie. "You can't tie it?"

"Pft, whatever," he pouted as she tied it for him. "Why do we even have to do this anyway? Can't we just grab them and leave, and kill monsters?"

"Just relax," her response was soft and understanding. "This won't take very long, I promise."

Percy sighed. "I know…just so long as it's with you."

"Agreed," she said, finishing the double Windsor. She leaned in for a kiss, but was interrupted.

"Come on, we've got to go," Thalia called from across the hall. "Grover's waiting."

Annabeth tensed as she heard his name, and Percy couldn't really blame her. That summer, she'd been seeing visions of him in her sleep, with him pleading for help on Polyphemus' island. It turned out to all be a trick planned by Kronos, so they would steal the Fleece so Luke could in turn steal it from them. Needless to say, when she heard that Grover needed help again, she was skeptical. She took a deep breath, but didn't finish her kiss, instead taking Percy's hand and walking with him to the gymnasium.

Once they entered, they all found it incredibly hard to concentrate. The booming music was enough to give Annabeth a headache, but the rapidly changing lights and colors just made her head spin; it was _far_ too much visual and auditory stimuli for any of their ADHD brains to handle. The three stood to one side, waiting for Grover.

The satyr found them almost immediately. "There you guys are!" he exclaimed as he made his way over to them in the crowd. "What took you so long?" he demanded.

"We got held up in the storm a bit," Percy explained. "But we're here, so…what's wrong?"

"Two demigods," Grover claimed. "I don't know their parentage, but they're strong, like really strong, you feel me? I've been doing my best to keep an eye on them, but there's…someone."

"Who?" Thalia questioned.

"A teacher, Dr. Thorn. He won't even let me near them. I have no idea what monster he is, but he doesn't seem to be sure about the demigods either. But today's the last day of the semester, so he probably won't let them leave without confirming it."

"Okay, what does he look like?" Annabeth wondered.

"He has two eye colors; focus on the blue. Other than that, he looks like just about every other guy teacher here."

"Alright…where are the two demigods?" Thalia looked around. Grover pointed to some bleachers, where two people were spotted; a boy and a girl. The girl caught Percy's eye, in that he recognized her; she wore a floppy green cap, but her skin had lightened up since he last saw her by a shade or two. "Their names are-"

"Bianca and Nico di Angelo," Percy finished. All three sets of eyes were on him. "I, uh…I met Bianca a while back."

"What? Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Well, it didn't seem important, and besides, I didn't know they were demigods," Percy claimed.

"When did you meet them?" Annabeth wondered, obviously a bit suspicious.

"It doesn't matter," Thalia interrupted. "Percy, you and Annabeth go get them. Let Grover and I know if anything comes up, alright?" she didn't wait for a answer, just dragged the satyr to the dance floor, and was soon lost in the crowd.

"…Why does she always have to give me orders?"

"Does it matter?" Annabeth questioned. "It's a decent plan."

"But aren't _you_ usually the girl with the plan?"

"Yeah, but I'm more concerned as to _when_ you met this girl," she stared accusingly at her boyfriend.

"Oh that?" Percy was oblivious to her suspicion. "I met her back in the Lotus Hotel and Casino. She was looking for her brother, and I helped out."

"…How'd she get out?"

"I don't know, let's find out," Percy said, taking her hand reassuringly and led her to the two. They stood at the bottom of the bleachers. "Hey there!" Percy greeted, trying to look as chipper as possible.

Bianca did a double take when she saw him, while Nico just looked confused. "Y-you?" she questioned. "What are you doing…how are you...?" she was clearly not confused.

"Excuse me, miss, but," Percy held out a hand, hearing a slow song come on. "Would you give me this dance?" he asked. The truth was that he wanted to dance with Annabeth, but the mission unfortunately took priority, and if they were going to either keep them safe or get them out, they needed to be in as close of proximity as possible.

"I…you…"

"My partner here can take the gentleman as well," Percy offered.

"Cool," the boy said, monotone, hopping down the bleachers, with Annabeth taking him to the dance floor. Percy kept his hand outstretched for Bianca, who hesitantly took it. Percy was sure that he looked like a ghost to her, given how they met.

Percy put a hand on her hip, and the other in her hand, and they started dancing. "Bianca di Angelo, right?" Percy confirmed.

"Right, and you're Percy Jackson, but…" she hesitated. "You look older."

"And you look like you haven't aged a day," Percy agreed. "Do you know what happened?" he wondered, trying to deduce if she knew what she was or not.

"No. I mean, I _just_ saw you last month, so I don't know if it's something you did with your hair or what."

"No, I'm sixteen now," Percy claimed. "Listen, what I'm about to tell you might sound absolutely insane, but-"

" _Hey, hold your horses, Percy. The moment you tell her what she is, her scent becomes instantly stronger for monsters. If you're trying to get them out of here safely, you should hold off."_

Bianca raised an eyebrow. "What? What are you gonna tell me?"

"I, uh…actually, I really shouldn't yet. Just know that both you and your brother are in danger."

"What kind of danger?" she wondered.

"The bad kind," Percy said vaguely. "We're doing what we can to get you two out, but-"

"You and that blonde girl?"

"Yeah," Percy clarified. "And a couple of others."

He was about to go into more detail, but then a big man in a suit walked up to them. He had two different eye colors, one of them being a vibrant but cold blue color, not unlike Thalia's. "Di Angelo," he called for her.

"Yes, sir?" she responded immediately.

"I need to have a word," he said. "And get your brother as well."

Percy expected her to look worried, or to look to Percy for reassurance, but she played it off surprisingly calmly, considering he just told her that she was in mortal danger. She turned back to him and smiled. "Do you mind if I leave you mid-dance?" she asked sweetly.

"Not at all," Percy played it off just as casually, kissing her hand like in one of those old-fashioned movies, before letting her go off. Within seconds, Annabeth stormed up to him, carrying snacks and a drink from the table which had them set out.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she demanded. She had met Percy at the exit where Dr. Thorn left with the di Angelo's. "You let him walk off with them!"

"Hey, is that a cheese cube?" Percy snatched it from her hand and popped the cheese in his mouth, chewing it, twirling the toothpick it was on in his fingers.

"Percy! Focus!" she demanded.

"I know, I know," Percy said, not thinking much of it. "Hey, you didn't tell Nico that he was a demigod, did you?"

"No, I figured it wouldn't be safe until we were out of this school."

"Good. Now, I figured that if they could play it off well enough, he would just give up, or he would be convinced that they were mortal. That way, if it worked, then we'd be home free."

"And if it doesn't work, then they'll be torn to shreds," Annabeth reminded him. "Percy, this is a stupid plan even by your standards."

"Noted," he said, taking Riptide from his pocket. "Which is why I'm going to tail them, and make sure nothing happens to them."

"You mean _we're_ going to-"

"No, you're going to go get Thalia and Grover and then come back me up," Percy interrupted.

"…You aren't trying to protect me, are you?"

"If I was, you'd kick my ass," he reminded, putting the leftover toothpick from the cheese cube into his mouth, letting it stick out.

"…A fair point," she kissed him on the cheek. "Good luck, Seaweed Brain."

After that, she disappeared into the crowd again. Percy ducked out of the gymnasium when the chaperones weren't looking and readied Riptide, though he didn't draw it yet.

He followed the monster and demigods quite a ways, being sure to stay just out of their line of sight, and saw that they went outside, the back way. " _Gross, I have to go outside again,"_ Percy thought dejectedly.

" _I don't give a tuppeny fuck about your temperature conundrum, you meat-headed shit sack,"_ Riptide retorted.

" _Tuppeny?"_ Percy wondered as he slipped outside, seeing the shadows of the three moving dangerously close to the cliff. Percy picked up the pace a bit to keep up.

" _Hey, that's the quote."_

" _Yeah, but you already replaced 'moral' with 'temperature', didn't you?"_

"… _Y'all are bitches…"_

Percy ignored the sword's antics and clicked it, having it elongate into its usual form. The sound and the presence of the Celestial Bronze blade made the monster stop, and the di Angelo's along with him. They turned around to see him walking up to them. "Hey!" he called out, twirling the sword. "Those two are under my protection," Percy claimed.

"Is that a sword?" Nico wondered, his eyes sparkling slightly.

"Percy, what's going on?" Bianca demanded.

"Silence, cretins!" Dr. Thorn demanded. Instantly upon seeing Percy, his form had shifted. He still looked vaguely human, but his skin had turned into the same leathery sag that could be seen on the Furies, or the Kindly Ones. There was also something behind him, like a tail. Percy kept a mental note to watch out for it. "I had hoped you would be smart enough not to follow…" he muttered under his breath.

"Oh, you know who I am?"

"You are Perseus Jackson; the Cruel Spider," Dr. Thorn said. "There isn't a monster on Earth or in Tartarus that doesn't despise your name."

"You mean 'know my name'?"

"I know what I said," Dr. Thorn tensed, and soon, these…things shot out from behind him. Percy let his instincts handle things, innately knowing where each projectile was, and slashing them, though he was forced back several feet to give himself time. After realizing that he'd have to fight his way out, Percy shot forward as fast as he could in dress shoes while deflecting more projectiles. Percy just barely made out that these were spikes, and that the tail was flinging them toward him. Once he was in range, and once the volley of spikes was finished, Percy reared back his blade and shot it forward with the intention of shoving it through the monster's thick head, but it was faster than he expected.

Dr. Thorn weaved around Percy's strike and whipped him with his tail, though Percy blocked the strike. He was now standing in front of the di Angelo's, with no more room to back up and give himself space.

"You wanna tell me what monster you are before I rip you into a million pieces?" Percy asked. His voice was low and threatening. He'd almost forgotten the rush he felt when he fought actual monsters. Though after Polyphemus, now it was also tinged with a nice helping of unadulterated fury which almost seared and resonated throughout his body and blade.

"Percy…" Bianca muttered his name quietly, almost disturbed at his intensity. She quickly shook those thoughts out of her head; Percy was a friend, and he was doing this to protect them. She only wished she could do more to help him, and especially to help Nico. The boy probably didn't even fully comprehend out much danger they were in.

Nico hardly ever showed much emotion. It was usually only when he saw something new and exciting, like Percy's sword, that he showed anything resembling interest. Even after years of caring for him, Bianca still had a hard time figuring out what he was thinking; she just tried to smile a lot and hope for the best.

Dr. Thorn laughed. "Ha! You really have no idea what you're up against!" it mocked. "The General has a marvelous plan for you, Cruel Spider! He has a plan for all of you; and soon Olympus shall see its darkest night in a millennia!"

Percy charged forward again, but this time the monster was ready. He shot volley after volley, stopping Percy in his tracks and forcing him back to the di Angelo's. Even he couldn't stop all of Dr. Thorn's spikes, and one went straight for Nico. Bianca reacted much faster than she thought she should have been able to, as she could barely even see the projectiles, but she pushed Nico out of the way just in time. Then she saw another projectile heading straight for her, but it never got to her.

Percy had shot out his hand, the one not holding the sword, and took the hit for her. The spike got lodged into his forearm. Fortunately, he didn't seem to hit any veins or bones, miraculously actually. Still, his entire arm then hung limp to his side. He couldn't feel it except for the immense pain he felt emanating from it.

"Damn…" he muttered, raising his blade. "Knew I should've brought the shield…"

And that wasn't all of the bad news; Percy suddenly felt the wind pick up from behind them, toward the cliff, and then a blinding light shot from behind him. When he turned, he just barely made out the shape of a military helicopter.

" _How the hell can they afford this?!"_ Riptide demanded.

"No clue!" Percy called. Now, he was surrounded on both sides, trying to defending two unarmed and untrained demigods from a monster who he didn't know how to beat and a military helicopter about to riddle them all with bullets, all while one of his arms was totally useless.

This was not exactly how he pictured his reunion with Annabeth.

Thankfully, this is when help came. Suddenly, Dr. Thorn lurched forward as blood shot from a wound on his back. He flailed and swung his tail, eventually hitting something, and soon Annabeth was visible on his back. She had run her dagger through his shoulder, but the hit had dazed her and made her lose her invisibility cap. Percy took his chance. "Time to go!" Percy ran around Dr. Thorn, with the di Angelo's following closely. Percy only then realized that they'd been inches away from a worse fate, as monsters leapt from the helicopter and landed where he and the di Angelo's had been just a second before. Grover met them, immediately removing the spike from Percy's arm and working some rudimentary nature healing magic to ease the poison.

That's when Thalia showed up. She charged onto the front lines, her shield's hideous image driving away the monsters that had just landed and started slashing through them with ease, but she was only killing them as fast as they were coming, and their supply seemed endless.

Annabeth was still hanging onto Dr. Thorn's back. "Jump off!" Percy yelled, but she refused, and just kept stabbing into his back. He staggered around, toward the cliff. "Jump off!" Percy repeated. She realized only too late that she had driven the monster off the edge. Percy caught her eyes just as she fell; they were surprised and terrified, silently pleading for help.

Then he saw her plummet off the side.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hiya! Would you look at that; this Percy is apparently way better than canon Percy at sneaking around because the monster didn't detect him so goddamn easily in this one. Hey; Percy was actually somewhat competent in this mission in this version! Cool!**

 **My own frustrations with my favorite entry in the original five books aside, I decided to go relatively close to the book for this particular stretch of the story. Now that the first two books are out of the way, expect the overall plot to get a lot darker and more...I guess cynical would be the right word. Percy won't be as naive or optimistic anymore, not that this version was overly so int he first place, but yeah...just warning you guys.**

 **Anyway, why don't you guys let me know what you think in a review? They're _always_ appreciated.**

 **Oh, and fun fact for the last chapter because I forgot to mention it in the note:**

 **That comment of Annabeth wanting to watch the competition, and Percy's subsequent debunking of that idea, comes from a scrapped idea. Originally, All of the male campers were supposed to perform, and Percy was going to sing "Long Distance Love" by Roomieofficial, and Beckendorf, in exchange for Percy helping him with Silena, was going to get Annabeth on a magical call of some kind to listen to him perform for her.**

 **I scrapped this idea for several reasons, but the main one is that I wanted to save the phrase "I love you" for a special moment between the two ('Hey, I fucking love ya' being the start of every chorus in the song). Those three words would be a bit controversial for a couple who'd only been going out for like three months or whatever, so I ended up going with the version of the chapter that you read, and I think it turned out fine.**

 **I might share more of these what-ifs in the future, if you guys want me to as well; there's another thing to share with me in the reviews!**


	27. Eternal Maidenhood And Joining The Hunt

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled, his body filled with adrenaline at the sight of her falling. He charged forward, prepared to follow them to the ocean below. He might've been able to save her, but he was stopped, as the helicopter fired away at him.

He reacted, just barely, and deflected the brunt of the fire, though he took a couple grazes to his arms and legs. Still, he knew he couldn't advance. Thalia seemed to notice this.

She twirled her Regalia in the air a bit, as Percy felt the energy build on it, before she shot it forward in a thrust toward the chopper. Lightning arced out of the tip of the Regalia toward the chopper, connecting and subsequently blasting apart its blades and sending it down and then spiraling into the side of the cliff, where it exploded on contact.

Percy took the carnage and charged through the horde of monsters, diving off the edge of the cliff after Annabeth. He landed in the water, and tried his best to will himself forward, even though much of the work had to be done manually like a normal swimmer.

He kept swimming, and swimming, and swimming, praying to all of the gods that he would find her safely. But even Percy knew that his chances were slim.

Meanwhile, back on the cliff, they were now down two demigods, and Thalia had been pushed back to the others. She was exhausted after sending such a powerful blast at the chopper, but she was still holding them off, partly due to her shield.

They would've survived, but they all would've gotten a little roughed up. Suddenly, though, a rain of arrows shot past the group of demigods, and impaled the monsters all at once, making the entire group explode into dust. The di Angelo's and Grover looked just as terrified at the newcomers, but Thalia had seen those arrows before. She turned around to see a large group of girls appear, all glowing with a silver aura. Their leader stepped forward a bit after everyone had stopped.

"Apologies," she said, her voice sounded much older than her appearance would lead one to believe. "But we noticed that you could use some assistance."

xxxXXXxxx

By the time Percy had climbed back up the cliff, the newcomers had set up a base camp in the clearing beside it. He walked solemnly alone into the group of females. Grover was the first to come up to him. "Perce!" he went up to him and checked for major injuries, but he didn't find any. "Did you find Annabeth? Is she…" he trailed off, seeing Percy nearly come to tears. "No way…but are you sure you-"

"Grover, please, just…" Percy struggled out the words. "Just…drop it…"

"…Alright, man, I'll…be over here if you need me, alright?" he assured, putting a hand on Percy's shoulder. Thalia walked up to him then, as he made his way to the center of the camp. Their meeting drew the attention of the others.

"Why did you engage the Manticore alone?" she demanded, her voice quieter than usual. Annabeth once told Percy that Thalia got scary quiet when she was angry; he guessed this constituted.

"…I thought I could handle it," he said.

"Obviously not," she insulted him. "You should've gotten us."

"Thanks, I never would've figured that out, Pinecone Face," Percy said sarcastically.

" _Don't_ call me that," she warned.

"And if I waited any longer, the di Angelo's would've been taken."

"Not if we had a plan," Thalia insisted.

Percy clenched his fists. "Look…I _really_ don't need this right now," he tried to keep his cool.

Her eyes didn't show any sympathy. In fact, they seemed even more judgmental, like she was insulted that he'd ask for special treatment because of what happened to Annabeth. "…Chiron never should've let you come, Cruel Spider," she claimed, putting poison worse than the Manticore's into every word before storming away, no pun intended.

Percy sighed, mostly because he knew she was right; things probably wouldn't have turned out so poorly if he'd stayed at Camp Half-Blood.

"Excuse me," another voice appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Percy turned, seeing a girl who looked around thirteen, if that, wearing silver linen robes, like Greek hunting gear almost. "I don't recall ever letting you within my camp."

Percy normally would've tried to be somewhat personable, but he was just not in the mood anymore. "Oh yeah?" he questioned. "And who the fuck are you to tell me where I can and can't go?"

The girl raised her eyebrow. She seemed less amused or insulted as much intrigued that anyone would speak to her in such a manner. "I am Artemis, goddess of the hunt and of the moon," she introduced herself, causing Percy to become slack-jawed. "Would you like to share your name before I turn you into an even more literal ass than you are already?"

"That's _gonna be a challenge,"_ Riptide teased. Artemis smirked lightly, almost unnoticeably so.

"Oh, your blade has a sense of humor I see. Perhaps after I'm done with you, I can present it to Hephaestus for repurposing," her eyes lowered subtly. "He's always fond of the droll ones."

Percy slowly blinked, and put the toothpick back in his mouth, so he'd have an excuse to shut it. "… _Run,"_ Riptide advised, and he took it, dashing away from the goddess and trying to escape her wrath. He'd already been turned into a guinea pig; he didn't need to know what being a donkey was like. Unfortunately, after he'd run to the border of the camp, he was cut off; Artemis appeared to block his path. He stopped suddenly, nearly toppling into her, but he managed to stop himself.

"I, uh…I mean, you…uh…" Percy stammered. He was sure the goddess was expecting an apology, but he also was sure that even if he did apologize, he would still be turned into a donkey. "You…you look twelve," was what he said. He was sure his life would be gone right there, but instead, Artemis raised her eyebrow again, and before Percy's eyes, grew about eight years older into a woman that was taller, leaner, and way more intimidating than both her previous self and Percy.

"Shall this suffice?" the goddess wondered. Percy couldn't even respond, and before he knew it, Artemis had returned to her previous form. She turned around and gestured for him to follow. "Come, boy. I have a few questions in regards to your encounter."

Percy soon found himself inside the nicest tent he'd ever seen. It looked and felt like a log cabin on the inside, despite it looking like your average camping tent on the outside. Its walls were lined with various skins, from animals both normal and mythical in nature. Bianca was already inside, sitting before a centrally located, cushioned seat. The girl looked surprisingly at peace in this place. Artemis took the center seat.

"So…do I just…sit anywhere, or…?" he muttered, not really sure how to talk to Artemis.

All of the gods gave mortals a certain feeling. For example, when in the presence of Ares, Percy had the express desire to punch something. When he was in the presence of his father, he felt an overwhelming sense of inferiority. With Artemis, he felt this growing sense of uneasiness. It wasn't like nausea, but more like he was never sure when she was going to snap. Not to mention, he was already scared shitless of her because of her threat.

Artemis nodded at his stupid question, not seeming to care about his presence there. He sat next to Bianca. Somehow, her calm helped him breathe correctly. "You are going to answer my questions quickly, concisely, and without any stupid remarks. Is that understood?"

"Y-yes, ma'am," Percy agreed.

"Good. Now, boy, I understand you were sent here by Chiron?"

"Yeah," he answered immediately.

"For what purpose?"

"To get the di Angelo's and bring them back to camp."

"Were you aware that they were in danger before you arrived?"

"Yeah, but we didn't know what kind."

"Did you or did you not put the di Angelo's in danger in the execution of your mission?"

"…Yes…" Percy admitted. "I let them go with the monster…"

"And what happened after you let them go?"

Percy took a deep breath. "At first I thought they could convince him that they were regular mortals. When that didn't pan out, I attacked the monster, the Manticore. Before I could kill it, though, this military helicopter appeared out of nowhere and spawned like three dozen more monsters. My friend attacked the Manticore from behind, but it sent both of them off the edge of the cliff…" Percy explained, his voice getting more somber as he went on. "Y-you're a goddess, right? Do you know if she's alright?"

"I cannot see your friend nor do I know if she is alive," Artemis stated. "It is likely that she perished in the fall; even you demigods cannot survive everything, though you appear to think you can."

"R-right…" Percy looked down, his hair covering his eyes. He knew he couldn't have expected any sympathy from Artemis, the maiden goddess. She saw as much value in a relationship as she did of men in general, probably.

"Now, you will tell me what the Manticore told you before it fell over the edge," she ordered.

Percy took a deep breath, trying not to think about Annabeth for a moment. "He said…something about the General, whoever that is. He said that, um…'Olympus shall see its darkest night in a millennium,' but I don't know what he meant. As far as we know, Kronos isn't nearly ready enough to launch an attack. I mean, aside from saving camp, that was the main goal of getting the Golden Fleece, so that Kronos couldn't use it, right?"

"Indeed," Artemis agreed: something she'd rarely do with Percy. "Still, this does not bode well," she thought aloud. "You truly do not realize what you've caused, do you?"

"W-what?"

The goddess looked at him disapprovingly. "Whether the sea god would admit it or not, you are his child and you are immensely powerful, even by demigod standards," she claimed. It'd almost sound like a compliment, if it weren't for her hyper-judgmental tone. "Theoretically, your potential power should have been nullified without Poseidon's Blessing, at least to the point where you couldn't have caused the Great Stirring, but that was not the case."

"What? Wait, what's the Great Stirring? What did I have to do with it?"

"Six months ago, when you confronted the Cyclops and the Traitor, your show of power awoke forces unlike any which even the gods can recall; ancient monstrosities the likes of which can only be imagined," Artemis explained. "The gods will be able to contain the chaos, but chaos shall rage, and I fear it will be you demigods who will pay the price."

"You're saying…I put the camp in danger?"

"Your Camp Half-Blood will always be in danger," Artemis reminded him. "Is that not why Chiron has elected to train worthy heroes to defend it?"

"I…guess…"

"Um," Bianca spoke up. "I don't mean to interrupt, but why am I here?"

Artemis turned to the fifteen-year-old, and her face softened considerably. "You are here, child, to confirm the boy's story. Demigod or no, a boy is still a boy, after all."

"Why would I-" Percy started.

"Percy," Bianca interrupted him, probably saving his life. "He told the truth, but I still don't understand what's going on," she admitted.

"Bianca, remember what I said before? Well, I think I can tell you everything now," Percy said. Artemis let him explain. "You aren't a regular human. You know those Greek myths with all the tragedy? Like with Heracles and Achilles and all of the gods and goddesses?"

"Yeah."

"Well, they're all real, and just like the gods had children with mortals back then, they do now."

"So Nico and I are…?"

"Demigods," Percy confirmed. "We don't know who your godly parent is, but they'll probably claim you…sooner or later," Percy didn't want to give them any concrete hope.

"And…why were we in danger?" she inquired.

"Because monsters can track your scent as a demigod. The reason I couldn't tell you is that your scent becomes stronger when you find out what you are, but since we're in the presence of a goddess, it's probably safe, right?"

"Indeed."

"A god- wait…" Bianca shifted her stare from Percy, to Artemis, and back to Percy. "She's a goddess?" he turned back to Artemis. "You're a goddess?"

"I am," Artemis confirmed.

"How old are you?"

"Four thousand, six hundred, and twelve years old," Artemis cited. Bianca took a moment to process that.

"So…I have to fight monsters? With what? How? What about Nico?" she kept rambling out questions.

" _Oh yeah, she's definitely ADHD,"_ Percy thought.

"Y-yeah, you'll probably end up fighting monsters, but not yet. To prepare you, we'll take you to Camp Half-Blood. There, you can train, and play games, and be safe until you're ready to face monsters."

"Or," Artemis interjected. "She has another option."

"I do?" Bianca wondered.

"She does?" Percy was equally as confused.

"Indeed. As you can see, I am the goddess of the hunt, but I do not hunt alone. Those who have pledged their loyalty to me and the code of maidenhood may hunt eternally at my side. They are my Hunters. They are stronger, faster, and more agile than normal mortals and other demigods. They live eternally, so long as they do not fall in battle. So long as they swear loyalty and swear off the company of men eternally, I grant them these gifts."

"And…I can join you?" Bianca wondered, her eyes sparkling.

"Bianca," Percy warned. "What about Nico? You'll leave him alone at camp."

Artemis stood. "It is not your place to decide her fate," she said threateningly.

"Bianca…" Percy persisted.

"I know, but…" Bianca hesitated. "Percy, you wouldn't understand."

"Understand what?"

Her eyes shined with excitement. "I've spent my whole life caring for him. Every day is the same, just being the big sister. With this…I can _finally_ be free. I can just live my life, and eternally!" she exclaimed. It sounded pretty heartless to Percy, but then again, if he had to deal with an apathetic little brother 24/7, he'd probably want some alone time too.

Percy glanced from Artemis to Bianca. "…It's your decision," he said. "I won't try and stop you either way. If you go with the hunters, I'll try and look after Nico for you," he said. " _Maybe get my mind off of Annabeth…"_

Silently, Percy's relent impressed the goddess, if only very slightly; definitely not enough to change her opinion of him overall.

"Think hard, Bianca di Angelo," Artemis said thoughtfully. "I am a generous goddess. Be thankful for my recent Hunters, as they gave me an idea. You do not need to give a full commitment right away."

"Really?"

"Indeed. I can give you my blessing, along with a one-month…how would one say it in modern terms?"

"A trial run?" Percy suggested.

"Do not interrupt me," she ordered.

"Y-yes, ma'am."

"I will give you a one-month trial run. If you break your vow and decide that this life is not for you, I will attempt to understand your decision. However, if you go through the trial, your commitment will be final. If you break your vows then, there _will_ be consequences."

"Um…" Bianca, for the first time in this conversation, looked to Percy for assurance, but he refused to give it, for fear of Artemis taking it the wrong way and turning him into a jackalope or something. "I'll…do it."

Artemis almost smiled. "Excellent," she said. "Repeat after me. _I pledge myself to the Goddess Artemis."_

" _I pledge myself to the Goddess Artemis."_

" _I turn my back on the company of men."_

" _I turn my back on the company of men."_

" _Accept eternal maidenhood, and join the hunt."_

" _Accept eternal maidenhood, and join the hunt."_

Immediately, Percy noticed a change in her appearance. Bianca looked a bit wiser, a bit older (despite her appearance having not changed in the literal sense) and now had a silvery aura around her, like the girls outside around camp. She stood and looked at her hands. "Whoa…" was all she could say.

"Very good. Go outside now, child," Artemis said softly. "Find my Lieutenant, Zoë. She will…how to say…? She will break you in."

Bianca nodded and smiled, before leaving. However, her absence only made Percy more nervous. Artemis stared at him intensely, threateningly. "Um…before you start, can I say something?"

"…You may."

"Look, I've, uh…met some gods on my adventures, and…you've got to be the most terrifying," he claimed.

"Good," her voice remained level as she stood, and slowly walked over to him. "Listen very closely, mortal. You are going to be in close proximity to my Hunters for an unusually long period of time. Under _no_ circumstances should you flirt, hit on, or attempt to woo any of my Hunters. Unless absolutely necessary, you will not even think to converse with them. Is that understood?"

By the time she finished speaking, she was standing over Percy. "Y-yes ma'am…" she muttered.

"Swear it," she ordered. Percy hesitated before he answered. He had to pull himself together, for his own pride. He took a deep breath, and tried his best to mimic Artemis' cold stare.

"I swear on the River Styx; I will never cheat on Annabeth with one of Artemis' shiny, arrow-shooting dogs."

The goddess chuckled dryly, clearly trying to intimidate Percy, and it worked. "No, if you wish to see my dogs, it'll be the last thing you see," she vowed. "But that vow was sufficient for my purposes. Now, leave."

Looking back on it, Percy probably should have tried to prevent Bianca from being a Hunter, even _if_ he would've been turned into an ass as punishment. At least then, Bianca wouldn't have suffered so much.

xxxXXXxxx

It took a few more hours for Artemis to decide the next course of action. Against his better judgment, Percy remained within camp, mostly because it was warmer than outside of it, probably due to Artemis' influence or something. He sat next to Thalia and Grover, even though he would've preferred just having Grover by his side as he felt that Thalia was still killing him inside her head for his stupid plan. He noticed that a bag containing their street clothes was lying next to Grover.

Nico was wandering around with his sister, as she awkwardly tried to explain everything. He just kind of accepted it, but his expression changed slightly when she said she was leaving him to go with the hunters.

"What about me?" he wondered.

"You'll go to Camp Half-Blood, with Percy and the other two," Bianca explained.

"And…I'll never see you again?" he wondered, surprisingly emotive.

"N-no, I'll come visit, Nico," she assured him. "But, I mean…it might be a while. You should, um…try to make friends?" she gestured to Percy, Thalia, and Grover.

"But…you're my friend."

Bianca chuckled nervously. "Y-yeah, but…I can't be your only one all your life, right?"

"I mean, you _could_ …"

"Nico," she said his name.

"…Fine, I'll…try…"

After that, he…kept following her around.

Soon enough, someone approached Percy's group as well. She looked regal, like a princess, and her complexion made Percy think of Persia for some reason. She wore the same silvery coat that most of the Hunters wore, but had a silver circlet on her forehead, distinguishing her from the rest. Well, distinguishing her even more, aside from her height and her presence, to which the other Hunters paled.

"Who're you?" Percy questioned. The woman didn't even dignify him with a look of disgust, just completely ignored him.

"Thalia," she said the daughter of Zeus' name heavily; they clearly had history together. As soon as she spoke, Percy got a massive pressure behind his eye, almost like when Riptide got mad at him.

" _Dude, what the hell?"_ Percy questioned in his head, only to get silence as a response.

"Zoë," Thalia returned, equally as pensive. "I hope you're not here to repeat your offer."

"I am obligated," Zoë claimed. "So I shall offer thou another chance to serve my lady."

"You were offered to join the Hunters?" Percy asked the daughter of Zeus. She gave him a look like 'are you kidding me?' But she nodded.

"Annabeth was too, but we turned it down."

"She was?" Percy couldn't help but feel a little bit hurt that she never told him. "Well…are you going to?"

"No, my answer remains the same," she said calmly. Zoë took a deep breath, and nodded.

"It is a shame," she said. "You would have made an excellent addition to my lady's personal aides."

"My destiny lies elsewhere," Thalia argued. "I knew that then, and I know it now."

"…Very well, then," she said. As soon as she left, the pressure disappeared from behind Percy's eye.

"…Have I met her?" Percy wondered. "Her voice sounds really familiar."

"Yeah, maybe from one of Shakespeare's plays," Grover teased. "Who uses 'thou' anymore?"

"Grover," Percy said. "Not right now."

"Right, man, sorry."

Eventually Artemis reappeared outside her tent, and everyone gathered. "I have come to a decision," she announced. "Something terrifyingly evil has surfaced. Several bad omens were delivered tonight, and so, a hunt must be undertaken," cheers started to rise form the crowd of twenty-ish Hunters. "I was not finished," everyone shut up. "A hunt must be undertaken, yes. However, this is a hunt I will complete alone," she claimed.

Zoë was the first to speak up. "But, my lady!" she exclaimed. "You have not hunted alone in hundreds of years!"

"I understand that, Lieutenant," Artemis said understandingly. "But this mission is far too dangerous for anyone but a god."

"But…" Zoë struggled to argue. "If you are not with us, then what are we to do?"

"You will go to Camp Half-Blood, and remain there until I order otherwise," Artemis said, causing uproarious contempt in the Hunters. "Do not whine, it is undignified," she silenced them. She turned to Thalia. "I trust that Chiron will have no issue?"

"No, ma'am," Thalia said calmly. Percy couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous, given how much of a pansy he'd acted around her. "They can stay in your cabin; I can't promise how well-kept it is, though."

"Tch," the goddess looked annoyed. "No matter. Zoë," she called the girl.

"Yes my lady?"

"You are in charge of the Hunters in my absence. You may not disobey my order, but should conflict arise, I trust you will make the right decisions," she said, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder reassuringly. It was the closest thing to a touching moment Percy had seen out of either woman. Zoë nodded.

"Um…" Percy spoke up. "Not to be the bearer of bad news, but camp is like eight and a half hours by car, and ours can only fit five at max, so…your plan might have to wait."

Zoë glared at Percy; her first interaction with him. "You will _not_ speak to my lady Artemis in that dullard tone!" she snapped. Immediately, the pressure returned, and this time is was stronger, bordering on pain. Percy glared back.

"All due respect, I don't take orders from you," he returned. Soon, he had about two dozen females aiming their bows and arrows at his face. Artemis, thankfully, stopped them.

"Hold," she said, causing them to lower their arrows. "I am aware of the distance, and I have already had the matter sorted, just as soon as dawn breaks," she claimed. As if on cue, the sun just peeked out over the horizon, and with it, a massive…thing, appeared in the sky. It was moving far too fast to make out. From it, singing could be heard.

"I'm the best…around! Nothin's gonna ever keep me down!" a strong male voice was heard from it.

"Is that a challenge?" Artemis called. The goddess acted fast, drawing her bow and arrow and shooting the object with impossible accuracy.

"Hey! Watch where you're shooting, sis!" the man snapped.

"Consider it a love tap!" she returned, having successfully drawn the man's attention. Percy racked his brain trying to remember who Artemis' brother was.

He couldn't think too hard on it, though, as he was far too preoccupied shuddering at the vehicle itself. "We're gonna have to ride that thing?" he asked cautiously.

Grover chuckled and nudged Percy's shoulder. "Come on, Perce. It won't be that bad once you're inside," he assured. The son of Poseidon nodded.

"Right, right…you're right, man," Percy tried to agree. "…I'm glad you're back, Grover."

"Me too, man."

The man landed his vehicle, which Percy saw to be a sports car with a flame and sun motif for the paintjob, and exited. He looked absolutely flawless; he was basically a modelling agent's dream, with flowing blond locks, absolutely ripped abs, exposed from an unbuttoned shirt, and just the right amount of tan to not be an asshole about it. Artemis looked disapprovingly at the man. "Close your shirt, brother," she ordered.

"What?" he acted innocent.

"You _know_ that my Hunters are maidens," she reminded him.

"Well, then consider it a test for them," the man popped a hand onto Artemis' head like she was a child. She swatted his hand away and sighed.

"My lady…" Zoë started, clearly disgusted that they were in such close quarters with a man like that. "You _cannot_ expect us to-"

"I am afraid I have to," Artemis looked equally annoyed. "Time is short, I fear. The winter solstice draws near; I must complete my hunt by then," she said, before turning to the rest of the Hunters. "I leave you in your sister's capable hands."

And then, Artemis bounded off into the horizon, heading west.

Thalia stepped forward. "Lord Apollo," she greeted, bowing her head. "We ask that you allow us passage in your chariot."

"Tch, kiss up," Percy muttered.

"You said it, sea boy," Apollo agreed, giving him a wink. "But sure, why not? Hop in!"

Before their eyes, the sports car transformed in a blinding light into a double-decker bus. Everyone soon climbed aboard. The Hunters all took the back, while Thalia, Grover, and Percy were left in the front with Apollo: Bianca sat with the Hunters, specifically with Zoë.

"Um…" Apollo hesitated.

"What?" Percy wondered. He was sitting in the seat adjacent to Thalia, with Grover taking the window. "Why aren't we moving?"

He turned back to Thalia. "Hey, you're a daughter of Zeus, right?"

"Correct," she answered. Again, Percy couldn't help but feel jealous, due to her status.

"Wanna drive?" he wondered. For the first time since Percy met her, Thalia hesitated.

"Um…I don't-"

"She _does_ have a license," Grover noted.

"Excellent!" Apollo exclaimed, and in an instant, the two had switched places, so Thalia was now in the driver's seat.

"Oh gods…" she muttered.

"Relax," Grover said. "It's just like driving a car, which you can do."

"Yeah, driving a car…" Thalia agreed anxiously, carefully shifting it into drive.

"At about five thousand miles an hour," Apollo said off-handedly. The news startled Thalia, who punched onto the gas. The bus lifted up into the air at astounding speeds, and then shot forward. Percy nearly hurled from the force, and got a death grip to the seat in front of him. He dug his head into the seat, forcing himself not to look at how high they were. Every muscle in his body was clenched.

"Oh gods…let me know when it's over," Percy begged. Just five seconds later, Grover responded.

"It's over."

Percy opened his eyes, and saw that they had crash landed just outside of the camp borders. As for how he didn't feel the impact, it was probably some combination of his singular focus on not puking and the chariot's innate magic. He chalked it up more to the former.

When Percy looked up, he saw Thalia still at the wheel, her body just as tense as his was, while Apollo had been kicking back against the window. "I…h-how-" Percy wasn't even sure what question he wanted to ask the god.

"Oh, I forgot. ETA: around fifteen seconds."

"Cool," Nico said, deadpan. Percy jumped at hearing his voice.

"Gah! Where the _hell_ did you come from?" he demanded.

"I've been here the whole time," Nico claimed. Apollo stood and looked back, seeing the Hunters sprawled out across the back six rows in various forms of daze.

"Alright, decent first time, daughter of Zeus!" he congratulated. "It's safe to step off now."

Percy was the first to go, launching himself out the door and feeling the ground beneath him. Nico followed. Grover stood, and walked up to Thalia, who still had a death grip on the steering wheel. "Come on," he reminded. Shakily, she nodded, and stepped off, quickly regaining her composure.

Percy, despite the events that led up to this, felt a sense of satisfaction from seeing Thalia's tree. "Well…we're home again."

 **Author's Note:**

 **Yay! Things totally happened this time! Jeez, in all honesty, I'd forgotten how "nothing" this chapter is. But I suppose it was a necessary part of the story, so I had to include it, and I tried to make it as entertaining as possible.**

 **Anyway, I want to thank all of my reviewers, even the more negative ones, as it shows that you all care so much...at least that's how I'm taking it. Please, keep it up! Let's get it past 100 reviews before the end of Titan's Curse!**

 **Oh, and I meant to mention this a few chapters ago, but we're up to over 10,000 total views, now currently sitting around 13,000! Thank you all for that as well! Please, continue to read and continue to review!**


	28. It Probably Could've Been Worse

The camp had an interesting layout during the winter. Mostly, it was the same as the summer; due to the magical borders, it usually stayed at a constant 70-ish in terms of temperature. Starting in November, though, a little area was sectioned off. It was this big open area where the temperature was much lower, more winter weather, and light snow was allowed to fall and collect to form just enough of a layer to get a crunch when you step on it. In the center of this area was a big pine tree, at least thirty feet tall and covered with decorations made by…well, Percy wanted to say all of the cabins, but it was mostly the Hephaestus one, since they toyed with stuff the most.

For those wondering why Camp Half-Blood celebrated Christmas (with the tree), even though it's been proven that the Greek gods are real, there _is_ an explanation…actually two. First, most of the campers were raised in some demonization of the Christian faith, with a couple Jews and other assorted religions, before they discovered that they were Half-Bloods. Second, in Chiron's words, physically the Greek gods exist, but philosophically; all gods exist and could be worshipped.

The few campers that were there stopped what they were doing to look at the group of Hunters entering camp. A few of the older campers grimaced when they saw them, as if it drew bad memories. Zoë gestured for the Hunters to follow her. "We will settle at cabin 8," she announced. "Onwards!"

Percy stared off after her, racking his brain trying to think of who she sounded like that he'd met. Grover nudged him. "Come on, Perce," he urged him forward. As they got closer to the Big House, Percy gradually felt Riptide's presence return.

" _Hello? Hey, is this thing on again?"_ it wondered, as if it were communicating through a mic.

" _What the hell, man? Where were you?"_ Percy questioned.

" _Dude, I've been talking this entire time."_

" _Like hell you have!"_

"You've _been ignoring me!"_ Riptide accused.

" _Like hell I have!"_ Percy snapped in his head. Grover nudged him again.

"Yo, Perce. You good?" he wondered. "You look like you're gonna murder an Ares kid."

Percy hadn't even realized he'd been scowling. "Nothing," Percy assured. "Just…a headache."

" _You suck worse than Star Wars VII!"_ Riptide mocked. Percy successfully ignored its other comments as they entered the Big House to inform Chiron of their mission.

He smiled when he saw them. "Ah, you're back!" he said, having been reading a book or something. "Tell me, how did it go?"

Percy distinctly noticed that he looked to Thalia to answer, which she did. "We secured the two demigods that Grover had mentioned, though one of them elected to join Lady Artemis' Hunters," she explained.

"I see…well, it was her choice, I suppose. Where's the other one?"

"Right here," Nico said, having seemingly appeared behind Chiron, looking over his shoulder. Percy thought he might jump out of his wheelchair, he was so startled, which would've been a hilarious sight. "What are you?"

"Dear gods, boy!" Chiron caught his breath. "How did you do that?"

"Hey, it's _your_ fault for not paying attention," Nico claimed, crossing his arms indignantly. Both Chiron and Mr. D blinked at the boy. Then Mr. D smiled.

"I like him," he claimed.

"I meant you too," Nico claimed. Mr. D frowned.

"…I don't like him."

"In any case," Chiron returned to the topic. "What else transpired? You mentioned the Hunters?"

"Yes," Thalia confirmed. "After a small blunder on the Cruel Spider's part, the Hunters were forced to step in."

"Excuse me, but I don't think that's exactly how it went," Percy interrupted the story.

"Well, you jumped off a cliff at that point, so it very well might be how it went," Grover chimed in.

"And what are you talking 'my blunder'? _You're_ the one who disappeared in the crowd with Grover so I couldn't get you. I did what I had to."

Thalia didn't respond, either not having anything to retort with, or not wanting to waste her energy arguing. It was probably the latter.

"In any case, continue," Chiron said.

Percy sighed. "The di Angelo's were led out by the monster, a Manticore named Dr. Thorn. I followed them and tried to protect them, when a military chopper intervened."

"I see. So you were there, Thalia and Grover were dancing, and…where was Annabeth?" Chiron questioned. "Come to think of it, where _is_ Annabeth?"

The tone of the farmhouse changed for the worse, almost instantaneously. Even the Christmas lights hanging around the walls seemed dimmer after he spoke her name.

Percy was going to answer, but the sound of her name made his voice catch in his throat. "She fought in the battle," Thalia answered. "But both she and the Manticore fell over the cliff where the battle took place."

Out of the all of the people that were there, Chiron seemed to be the most stricken by the news. He leaned back sullenly in his chair, and his eyes drooped. "I…see. Did she…?" he didn't finish.

"…It was my fault," Percy muttered, clenching his fist. "If only…I could've been stronger…"

"No, Perce," Grover assured. "It wasn't your fault. It wasn't anyone's."

"No, it was his fault," Thalia claimed. "If he hadn't charged in without me, Annabeth wouldn't have had to risk herself for him."

Percy shot a glare at her, but turned to Chiron. "I dove after them, into the ocean. If they were there, I would've felt it," he claimed. "I don't think Annabeth is dead; I think she was taken away."

Silence engulfed the room. Thalia and Mr. D averted the gaze from the conversation. "You think…Annabeth was kidnapped?" Grover asked.

"It is possible," Chiron mumbled. "But…for what purpose?"

"Does it matter?" Percy questioned. "If we think she's alive, we need to go after her, right?"

" _Do_ we think she's alive, though?" Thalia interjected. "As far as I'm concerned, Annabeth was crushed against the rocks, and sunk dead to the ocean floor."

Percy grit his teeth, having had enough of Thalia's attitude. "What the fuck's your problem, Pinecone Face?" he snapped. "Annabeth is your friend, your _only_ friend. And you'd just give up on her like that?" Thalia looked about to speak, but she held it back. "Oh no, go ahead," he lowered his eyes. "I want to hear this."

"And _I_ don't want to waste my breath," Thalia claimed, pushing past him towards the entrance. "You're chasing after a fleeting dream, Cruel Spider," she warned, turning her head back and shooting daggers at him with her electric blue eyes. "Sooner or later, you'll have to wake up and face reality," she growled as she exited the Big House.

Mr. D was the first to speak after that, though even as a god, he was left speechless by the savagery of her comments. "Well, I think we've had enough fun for the night," he said, clapping his hands. "Perry-"

"Percy," he corrected.

"Whatever. Why don't you go ahead and show, uh…"

"Nico."

"Right, Nickel here, his new home, huh?"

"But I-" Nico started to argue.

"Chiron and I must discuss certain matters in _private_ ," he said, rushing the two outside with the snap of his fingers, before the door slammed shut behind them.

So now, Percy was left in a bad mood with a thirteen-year-old boy with no personality that he knew of. Great.

In all honesty, showing Nico around could've been worse. He could've been a hyperactive ten-year-old who played a stupid card game about Greek heroes, asking about every little thing and generally being a pain in the ass to everyone. Instead, Percy got a quiet, snarky kid; basically how Percy was but without the badass part of him.

" _Perceived as it may be,"_ Riptide commented.

"Shut up, Riptide," Percy said off-handedly.

"Who do you keep talking to?" Nico question, looking at Percy like he was insane.

"My sword," Percy answered without explaining.

"And they _haven't_ sent you to the crazy home yet because…?"

Percy frowned. "Because I'm not crazy, idiot," he claimed, finding a strange satisfaction of being able to call someone else an idiot and it being correct. "My sword talks to me; something about the spirit of its original owner or something."

"And…who was that?"

"No clue. I even looked it up, and got nothing."

"Well…have you ever asked it?" Nico wondered. Percy stood there for a second, thinking it through. Nico smirked. "Pft, and you called _me_ an idiot."

"Oh my gods…" Percy muttered. "Hey, Riptide, who were you? I mean, who originally-"

" _Don't have a clue,"_ it answered before he even finished.

"Dammit!" Percy snapped, letting Nico laugh at his expense. They soon reached the Hermes cabin. "Alright, whatever. This is the Hermes cabin; you'll stay here with the rest of us undetermined's until you get claimed."

"What if I don't get claimed?"

"Well, then join the club," Percy answered, with the two walking in. "Normally it's a lot more crowded. You're lucky there are spots open," Percy said, sitting on the bunk he'd procured after the summer campers left. "Make yourself at home; I'm gonna head out to change before dinner. Ask one of the Stoll's if you have any more questions," Percy said, off-handedly pointing to the two other people in the cabin, who waved mischievously at the newbie. He quickly grabbed a change of clothes and left.

xxxXXXxxx

On his way out from changing, he ran into Zoë. He rounded a corner, and was face to face with her. They both stopped, and Percy quickly stepped back. "Hey, Zoë, right?" he wondered. The girl didn't even look at him, just stared straight ahead. "Oh, so you're just, like, not gonna talk to me. Is that it?"

Zoë closed her eyes, contemplating whether to answer. "…Is that not my right?"

Percy raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Hey! She speaks!" he exclaimed.

"Tch," she turned away, and started walking forward again, passing Percy. "Men…"

"…Hey," he called after her, stopping her. "You'd better take good care of Bianca. She gave up being with her little brother to go with you."

"Unlike you Half-Bloods, we care equally for all of our fellow maidens," she claimed, walking away.

Percy sighed. "Jeez, she needs to get off her high horse…" Percy muttered, following her back to the cabins. Another pressure formed behind his eye, but this one felt like Riptide was trying to tell him something. "What? I'm _not_ going after her," he claimed. "I'm just…whatever," he didn't bother finishing, just veered off back to the Hermes cabin, waiting for dinner.

xxxXXXxxx

During dinner, Percy found himself to be less personable than usual. " _Because you've always been a social butterfly,"_ Riptide teased. Percy chose to ignore it. He glanced over at the Artemis table; normally empty, the table was now filled to the last seat by the Hunters. The Apollo kids gawked at them, and the Hunters ignored them.

Percy tried his best not to look at the Athena table, and succeeded. The only issue was that he only then looked at the Zeus table. Again, it was normally empty, but Thalia Grace sat stoic and regal, just like her father had been when Percy had met him. She didn't look at anyone, just her food, seemingly bored.

Percy couldn't help but glare. " _What's up?"_ Riptide questioned.

" _Look at her, Riptide,"_ Percy said. " _She's content…"_

" _So?"_

" _So, how can she_ possibly _be content given the circumstances?"_

"…"

"… _What?"_ Percy questioned. " _You don't agree with her, do you?"_

" _I didn't say that. I didn't say anything, just…"_ it made something of a sigh. " _You have to admit that she has a point. Even if blondie survived the fall, she's in enemy territory now. Even if Chiron knew where they might have her, sending anyone after her were be suicide."_

" _But-"_

" _Not to mention, Luke is probably trying to take advantage of you like this. He knows that you'd do anything to get her back."_

" _Then I'll beat him, just like I did last time,"_ Percy claimed.

" _Yeah, you got your ass whupped in a sword fight, and then you summoned a tidal wave. I'm sure you can do that in your condition,"_ it chided. " _Look, man. I'll tell you like it is. I think you should forget about her for now. Until something comes up, worrying is just gonna distract you from your duties around camp, and to the others."_

Percy considered its words for a long time, through most of the meal in fact. Finally, he gave his answer. " _…I'm sorry, Riptide, but I can't just forget about her. Because if she were here, and I was the one in her position, I know that she wouldn't give up on me."_

Another sigh. " _Fine then. I'll support you, bro, whatever you do,"_ Riptide conceded. After everyone had finished eating, Chiron stood and got their attention.

"Please quiet down," he called, silencing the few campers complaining. "This will only take but a moment," he claimed. "Now, as you can tell, we have many guests among us. The Hunters of Artemis will be staying here for an indeterminate amount of time," the centaur announced. "As some of you may know, it is camp tradition to hold a friendly competition with them. Last time, it was Capture-The-Flag, with the Hunters taking their 56th win. Other activities include the climbing wall, volleyball, archery, footraces, and now chariot races, as they've been reinstated. Does anyone have any suggestions for which activity to do?"

"Capture-The-Flag sounds fun," Bianca piped up, probably not completely understanding. The other campers obviously didn't know that she was new.

"You just want to beat us again," an Ares kid snapped.

"I'm sure they want to get up to sixty wins this decade," a Demeter kid agreed.

"Alright, children," Chiron settled them. "Who votes for Capture-The-Flag?"

All of the Hunters raised their hands, along with a couple other random campers. Percy didn't raise his hand; his only real notable match was in his first year where he was used as a punching bag and a decoy. It wasn't fun. Every other time, he was able to just beat the other people without much issue, but maybe that was because Annabeth always put him on center, while most of the opposing team sent their best guys around the sides to secure a flank, leaving the small fry for Percy. He made a mental note to talk to her about that when she returned to camp.

With the piddly vote, Capture-The-Flag was out. Out of all of the other events, chariot races and volleyball probably had the highest chance of a victory for the campers, and after last year, Percy definitely wasn't up for chariot racing.

"I'm up for some volleyball," Percy called. Murmurs of agreement soon rose, particularly from the Apollo and Hermes cabins. "Three-on-three; our best versus their best. All in favor?"

It wasn't by much, but the vote was majority, meaning volleyball was on for the next day.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Apologies if you expected a longer chapter this time, but hey, what can you do? For those of you who don't like volleyball or know nothing about it...I'm very sorry. I'll put a little disclaimer at the beginning of the next one with terms you need to know, but it's not that bad. I've just had this idea basically since the beginning and this was the best chance to put it in. Plus, we already had a Capture-The-Flag game in the Lightning Thief; I want variety in my camp activities.**

 **Anyway, let me know what you guys think in a review!**


	29. I'm Sorry If You Didn't Watch Haikyuu

**Terms you need to know:**

 **Match: total game**

 **Set: sort of like the four quarters in basketball, but based on points. Matches go to best of five, or in this case best of three.**

 **Sets are won by points to 25 by a margin of 2.**

 **the last team to win a point serves, and the opposing team receives and attempts to spike and hit the ball to the ground on the opposing team's side.**

 **And that's all you need to know.**

xxxXXXxxx

Percy had underestimated how much the campers despised the Hunters. Like, most of them both wanted nothing to do with the Hunters at all, and the rest just wanted to rip their throats out, even Silena, who was normally so sweet and kind. "Tch, those stupid bitches…" she muttered. "I'll show them to mess with a daughter of Aphrodite…"

The son of Poseidon grimaced as he let Beckendorf handle her, fearing that she might force a few of them to fall in love with a naiad or something, though given the water spirits' good relationship with children of Aphrodite, Silena might have felt that putting them together would be an insult to the naiads.

Percy recalled that "there will be consequences" for them after Artemis' little trial expired. Still, Percy couldn't help but wonder if Artemis looked down upon the Hunters having romantic relationships with each other, because her vow only prohibits the company of men, right?

"Questions for later," Percy said as he made his way down to the volleyball courts. Once he arrived, he saw almost the entire camp gathered around the courts. Thalia was on one side, staring down Zoë, who had two other team members; Bianca di Angelo, and a girl that Percy later learned is named Phoebe. Percy waltzed onto the court. "I guess you elected yourself as a player," Percy stated sarcastically. Thalia nodded, not breaking her stare-down. "And who are your teammates."

"It hasn't been decided yet," she said.

"Alright, then I'll play," Percy said.

"That _wasn't_ what I was implying," she said quietly.

"And how about Michael Yew for our third?" Percy suggested. "He's the one of the oldest and best in the Apollo cabin."

"No," she said. "The Apollo cabin isn't participating. Yew won't let them," she explained. "He said 'when we lose, it won't be because of me or my family'."

"Oh…kind of a dick move…" Percy muttered. "What about Clarisse from Ares? She's the biggest camper I know besides Beckendorf, and she can move a whole helluva lot better. She'd be great for a blocker and spiker."

Before this past summer, Percy wouldn't have suggested being on the same team as Clarisse for anything, but since her quest, she's been acting a whole lot nicer. Well, that is to say, she's being civil and curt, rather than being a total asshole.

"She's on a secret quest for Chiron," Thalia claimed. "Been gone for a month; missing in action."

"Damn…" Percy was running out of ideas. "Then maybe Beckendorf after all, but…" he would probably suck.

"Good morning!" Bianca greeted cheerily as she walked up to her side of the net, having sufficiently stretched. "You guys need one more member, right?

"We realize," Percy claimed.

"How about Nico?" Bianca suggested. "He played on the team at Westover as a setter. He was really good!"

"Yeah, on a team with mortals," Percy argued, but he wasn't really opposed to the idea. It was better than any other one they had. He looked to Thalia for approval, and cursed himself that he did.

"…Fine," she relented.

"Nico!" Percy called. The boy stepped forward. "You've been elected as our setter!"

"Ugh," he complained, stepping into the court. "Do I have to?"

"Oh sure, bitch about _everything_ why don't you?"

"Hey, if you insist," Nico smart-assed.

"Just…don't be a tool," Percy said, with the team getting into position. The setting felt familiar, only with half the usual members of each side. Percy was middle, with the lake to his right, past the sand volleyball courts, and the audience was to his left, where the reserve kids usually stood waiting for the set to end.

Thalia was up to serve first. She did so, pretty rudimentarily in fact, and the Hunters received it easily. They quickly set up for a spike, and laid it down towards Nico, who they underestimated. He received it better than expected, but now he couldn't set it. So Percy took the mantle, bumping it over to Thalia who spiked it again, but Zoë was there to block it, and it went down on the Camper side.

"Damn…" Percy muttered. These Hunters were better than he thought they'd be.

From there, things went downhill fast. The score went to 15-11, in favor of the Hunters.

Phoebe set up Bianca for a spike, which Nico could've blocked, but he jumped a bit early, allowing her to slam it down over his head. Percy noticed something peculiar. "You did that on purpose," Percy claimed. Nico shrugged. "Hey, you _can't_ give them points just for your sister."

"I'll do what I want," Nico retorted. Percy and Thalia joined in glaring at the younger boy as he watched the serve. Thalia quickly received, and Nico set to Percy, who then spiked it over Bianca's head.

"Good one!" she gave him a thumbs-up.

"Uh, sure," Percy said awkwardly; what was with this girl all of a sudden?

Throughout the match, she'd been supportive of the Campers more so than the Hunters. Percy started to get the feeling that this was her usual self, this happy-go-lucky, smiley girl, and her quiet, calm self was her version of being freaked the fuck out.

The first set then went to 24-22, with the Campers having closed the gap by a bit, but this was the Hunters' set point.

Zoë served, and she was their best. She served hard onto Percy, who did touch it, but it went off-course. Luckily, Nico was on it, and quickly set up for Thalia. Bianca received it. She'd been a major pain in the ass for the camp spikers the whole game; she would make a phenomenal libero if she played the sport professionally.

Anyway, Phoebe then set up for Zoë. She aimed in a blank spot, and struck down hard. Nico shot his arm out to try and receive it, but he only succeeded in touch it and letting it bounce further on his arm. Percy knew he couldn't make it physically to the ball, and Thalia was at the net coming down from trying to block it. Percy was really, really tempted to try and use his water powers; the lake was right there to his right. He could hit it back using his powers and give them another chance.

" _No_ ," he told himself, letting the ball touch the ground. " _That wouldn't work."_

The first set went to the Hunters. By now, the Campers were in an uproar, calling illusionary fouls on the Hunters part and deafeningly cheering for the campers. Both sides were working hard and were sweating up a storm.

Silena offered the campers towels. "Hey, next time you should spike it in Zoë's face," she said to Percy.

"I'll try," he said back, with her appearing satisfied.

"Cruel Spider," Thalia called him back onto the court. Percy made his way over to her.

"What?"

"Next time it goes out like that, you should catch it with your water."

"…" Percy wanted to say that it wouldn't work, but he couldn't say that to Ms. Imbetterthanyou. "How do you know I can do that?"

"Annabeth told you me you summoned a tidal wave last summer," she claimed. "A little whip to get the ball back into court shouldn't be too hard."

Percy nodded as the game started again. The Hunters served. Again, the set went poorly at first, though not as much, with the Hunter keeping a steady two point lead. Then the campers broke it to a one point lead, and were set to serve at 16-15.

Percy's senses were honed like he was fighting for his life. The last point was only theirs by a narrow margin; another millisecond and Percy's spike would've been blocked by Bianca. Nico served, and the Hunters received. Nico had been improving gradually as the match went on as well, in that he slowly became more invested in the game. His eyes were this cloudy black, like his sister's. His, though, were much more intense in this moment. Bianca, it seemed, was just having fun.

Okay, all Thalia had to do was block this spike. That was it, to catch up to the Hunters. Percy was in back to go for a spike if necessary, but all she had to do was block the spike. So of course she didn't.

Or well, it wasn't that she didn't block kit, it was that she couldn't block it. The tension between Zoë and Thalia was incredible, and seemed to fuel both of their adrenalines. Zoë laid down a devastating cut, right past Thalia's block. Thankfully Nico was there, but he, again, only succeeding in touching it, sending it flying way outside of the court.

Percy reached for the ball, feeling the tug in his gut to pull the water, and flicked his arm as if he were bumping it back over, but the ball didn't change course. It hit the ground exactly as it would've, but everything had stopped.

Percy heard water splash onto the court, making the ground damp, so he knew the water must've reacted to his will. Percy turned to his teammates, and saw Thalia turned away. When she turned back to him, slowly, there was a red mark on her cheek and going up to her forehead, through her eye. Percy had accidentally whipped her in the face. The look she gave nearly made him drop his fudge; even the horrifying roars of Polyphemus were no match for the death glare she was giving him.

Both Bianca and Nico burst out laughing, and even Zoë, it seemed, had a hard time keeping a straight face. Percy held his hands in front of his face in embarrassment. "I mean, uh…" he hesitated to even apologize, as he doubt it would've done any good. She stormed up to him, shaking with anger.

"Next time…" she mumbled, almost inaudibly. "…Don't try and get the ball with your water," she ordered.

"…Will do," Percy agreed, before she returned to her position. Percy readied himself. "Alright, Nico how are you…" Percy trailed off, seeing the boy's intense concentration after his bout of laughter.

"Oh, I'll score the next one alright…I'll show them who they're messing with…"

"Okay…" Percy said as the Hunters served. Thalia received, and set Nico up to set Percy up. He ran up to land a spike, though he saw both Phoebe and Zoë up to block him. But he could pull it off. Percy leapt up, but the ball never came.

Instead, Percy just barely looked over and saw Nico dump the ball over the side of the net. Everyone seemed completely shocked by this, except for Bianca. She dove for the ball, and just barely hit it, sending it back up for Phoebe to set and Zoë to spike and score past Percy. "Damn it!" Nico ruffled his own hair in frustration. "I thought I had you!" he said, to which Bianca gave him a playful peace sign before going to serve again.

The campers didn't let the Hunters pull ahead though, with the score now at 23-22, with the campers having recovered the lost points, and hoping that they could get the set back.

Unfortunately for the campers, this was where Bianca really shined like a star, pun very much intended.

The campers served, and the Hunters received, as per usual. They spiked, but Nico was serious now. He received it easily, with the spike being from Bianca.

" _Jeez, two intense rivalries on the court,"_ Percy said, glancing at Phoebe. " _Is there anything I can hate about this girl?"_ he wondered to amp himself up. He quickly got back on track.

Percy hastily set to Thalia, who spiked once again, but Phoebe touched it on the block, sending it sideways along the net on their side, right to Bianca to set. Percy watched Zoë, who was looking to spike, and leapt up to block. Thankfully, he matched her height, but she didn't actually spike.

Bianca actually dumped, and no one was over there. Both Nico and Thalia dove to get it, but neither of them made it, and now the Hunters were at match point. "Anything you can do, I can do better," she sang to her little brother, who looked incredibly annoyed by it. Zoë served, and Nico received. This time, Thalia set, and Nico had called for it. He leapt up and hit the ball as hard as he could, getting past Bianca and forcing Phoebe to receive it, which she was unprepared for. She bounced it right back, with the ball coming down basically right at the net, with a little bit going toward the campers side. Nico jumped up to set up for Percy, but then a hand appeared above his. Bianca used her superior height to get the ball just before it crossed over, performing a one-handed set to Zoë, who had come up right behind her. "I can do anything better than you," she continued teasing her little brother.

Thalia moved fast, diving behind Nico and receiving the ball, but it was off-course. Thalia quickly moved back to the other side of the net, while Percy was left to examine the court. Thalia was off to the left, Nico was dashing after the stray ball past the right edge of the court. The Hunters were scattered on their side, prepared to receive the ball as Nico would likely just send it over and hope for a better set up after they spike, but Phoebe made sure to stand where she could easily block Thalia, as she could sense that the daughter of Zeus was itching to spike.

Nico leapt sideways and positioned himself incredibly, and set up from outside of the court over to Thalia, but Percy knew that she wouldn't make it, so he took his chance.

Percy shot forward as the ball came, right up the center of the court and jumped up to spike. Suddenly, a pressure formed behind his eye, like Riptide was trying to warn him of something. But it wasn't until after he'd already smashed his palm into the ball did he realize that Zoë had leapt up to block him, and sent the ball slamming onto the campers side. With the second set also going to the Hunters, they secured the victory.

"Alright!" Bianca fist-pumped. "We won!"

"Good job, newcomer," Phoebe said to her.

"Yes, you truly came alive at the end," Zoë agreed. The camper side wasn't so friendly.

"I had that point, Cruel Spider," Thalia claimed, both her and Nico looking angry and getting close.

"You had a blocker on you already," Percy reasoned.

"And look at that; so did you!" Nico argued. "I set it up to the goth girl!"

Thalia chose to ignore the nickname, just got closer to Percy and got in his face. "What in the name of the gods were you thinking?" she demanded, her voice even more dangerously quiet.

"I was thinking I had a better chance at scoring than you," Percy said, becoming equally as angry as the others for questioning him. Though, even half of the campers in the audience looked like they wanted to strangle him for costing the match. The other half looked dejected and walked away sullenly or bored. "Is that a problem, Pinecone Face?"

"It is," she announced. "Because next time you think you have 'a better chance' than me, you should think again."

Percy's fist clenched. "You know, you've got a really problem, girlie. Why is it that you think you're better than _everyone_ else? You're nothing, just like the rest of us," Percy argued. "You think you're special? Ha! Don't make me laugh. Just because daddy dearest turned you into a tree."

"…you're mocking me," she muttered.

"Oh, you're right. That _does_ make you special, just not in the good way. Because while you were made of bark, _I_ was off saving the world and the camp!"

"The gods may have chosen for you to do that, but now they don't have to," she warned, clenching her fist. Nico stepped back, seeing that this was going to escalate quickly.

"Oh, because your track record is _so_ much better than mine? You've bitched at me countless times, and you blew up a helicopter. Whoop-de-fucking-shit."

"I will have my chance when the time comes," she claimed, though even she sounded defensive.

"Oh yeah? And when will that time be? I mean, my father may have disowned me, but at least he isn't stringing me along like your father is doing to you. You're just a little slave of the Olympians."

"That talk is traitorous, Cruel Spider," Thalia warned. "You'd best stop."

"And if I don't? What will you do? What will the gods do if I disrespect their little hero? Whatever they do, I'm sure it won't screw everything worse than when they brought you back."

"What are you implying, Cruel Spider?" she struggled to remain calm.

"What I'm 'implying', Pinecone Face, is that the gods aren't always right!"

Finally, she broke. She reared back a fist, and shot it forward while it was charged with electricity. Percy almost couldn't react to it, but it seemed that Annabeth's hand-to-hand training had paid off. Percy craned his neck to avoid the punch, and grabbed Thalia's arm, throwing her at least twenty meters into the lake. Gasps erupted from the crowd, as they knew a fight was about to go down.

Thalia was now soaking wet; if she used her powers now, she'd electrocute all of the life in the lake. She stood and drew her Aegis and Regalia. "Thalia, stand down!" Chiron ordered.

"No, let her blow off steam!" Percy said mockingly, drawing Riptide. "Gods know she hasn't been able to in her wooden prison for the past eight years!"

"Percy! Don't antagonize her!" he snapped, but the son of Poseidon was already marching toward the water, though he stopped before he got to it. The situation was well out of Chiron's control, and Mr. D seemed to enjoy the prospect of two demigods killing each other. The campers moved to surround the two battling demigods.

"You think you can beat me, Cruel Spider?" Thalia questioned, readying herself.

"Oh, I do. And unlike you, I won't need my powers," he claimed. Thalia looked a bit surprised. "That's right; don't think I didn't realize when you kicked me with lightning during our duel."

"No matter," she claimed. "Perhaps if I beat you here, you'll cease your whining and sorry excuses."

"Them's fightin' words, Pinecone Face!"

"Rragh!" she growled, charging out of the water. Percy ran up to attack as well. Thalia leapt up into the air into a flip, attempting to use the momentum to lay down an overhead slash, sort of like how Percy used gravity's influence to help in his fight with Polyphemus. Percy dragged Riptide along the ground, and then shot it upward to meet the attack. Then something got in their way.

Zoë slammed her foot down onto the flat of Percy's blade, pinning it to the ground. She then materialized her bow out of nowhere and took Thalia's attack head-on. Realistically, her bow should've snapped like a twig from the force of the attack, and the impact from it sent a shockwave out and ripples through the water behind Thalia; Percy almost doubted that he could've taken the full force of the attack…almost.

"Enough of this!" the Hunter yelled. "You two are acting like children!"

"Stay out of it!" both of them yelled back, attempting to free their weapons, but Zoë wouldn't let them. Chiron looked about to step in, when a green mist shot out from behind them, enveloping the area.

"What is this?" Chiron wondered, but he soon got his answer. The crowd of campers parted, and this saggy, wrapped-up, old hag shuffled forward, its eyeholes and mouth oozing the green mist. "The Oracle has _never_ exited the attic."

But here it was. Its skeletal hand rose from its side, and pointed, right at Zoë. Then it spoke.

 _Campers and Hunters must brave the land_

 _Daughter of sky a chance at power withstand_

 _Friend turned foe a shadow's death become_

 _Just one shall bear the cursed's fulcrum_

 _Another is lost at the dead one's call_

 _Battle lost by stars and moonlight fall_

Everyone was left speechless as the Oracle then sat down onto the sand, as motionless as it usually sat in the Big House.

The next prophecy had been foretold.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Sorry about the later upload; I just drove three hours to the Jersey Shore...you can make whatever jokes you want.**

 **Anyway, go ahead and make predictions about what's gonna happen if you want, or just let me know what you thought in a review!**

 **EDIT: so sorry about this, but I will probably have to take a hiatus for a few days. I'm visiting a friend who's about to go off to college so I would like to spend time with her, so writing is taking a back-seat. This inevitably means I won't have chapters to fill in the time. So, until this Saturday, I won't be uploading new chapters.**

 **So sorry again, but hopefully you can understand.**


	30. Do You Always Come Out Here At Midnight

"That is unacceptable!" Zoë said, slamming her hands onto the ping pong table. "I cannot travel with a group of campers!"

After the Oracle spoke, and it was moved back into the attic, the counselors, Chiron, and some of the Hunters moved to the war room.

"But you heard the Oracle," Bianca reminded her.

"My lady Artemis is in trouble! It is the duty of her Hunters to help her, not some-"

"How do you know Artemis has anything to do with this?" Percy questioned. "She was never mentioned in the prophecy."

" _Battle lost by stars and moonlight fall,"_ Thalia reminded him, still sore about their fight, not that she wasn't always mad at him. "Lady Artemis is the goddess of the moon," she claimed, and for once, Zoë agreed with her.

"But not the stars," Silena claimed. "Superfluous words don't usually appear in prophecies."

"Agreed," Chiron said. "I do not believe Artemis to be mentioned by that particular line. And I also don't believe that that is why you are worried, Zoë," he claimed. "Is there something you wish to share with us?"

The Hunter suddenly found the net of the ping pong table fascinating, as she wouldn't tear her eyes away from it. "I…had a dream, but…"

"But what?"

"It was probably nothing."

"In my experience, dreams rarely mean nothing," Chiron goaded her. Soon, she relented.

She took a deep breath. "In it, I saw my lady in chains, forced before the camper that fell in Maine."

"Annabeth," Percy muttered, now zeroing in on Zoë.

"The camper was holding something up, something which was too heavy for any mortal," she continued. "My lady took the burden from her."

Percy's eyes lit up. "Then she's still alive!" he exclaimed. "We need to go after her!"

"Who? Artemis or Annabeth?" Katie Gardner questioned.

"Both!"

"Now, hold on," Chiron said, as Beckendorf kept him from running out the door right then. "The Hunter isn't finished."

Percy looked to Zoë, who, to him, looked like she had the slightest bit of sympathy in her eyes, though whether that was for Percy or Annabeth, he couldn't tell. "A blond-haired man with a scar down his face came and picked her up," she looked at Percy directly. "She was not moving."

"But you don't know that she's dead. She could've been unconscious," Percy reasoned. The other counselors looked away, trying not to meet his gaze, even the Hunters. "Whatever, fine. _I'm_ going to look for her. I volunteer myself for this quest."

"What?" arguments arose from the Hunters. "Blasphemy! Hunters, travelling in the company of a boy?"

"I cannot accept this," Zoë agreed. "If both campers and Hunters truly must go together, I should have only female campers."

"Like who?"

"Like Thalia Grace," Zoë pointed to her. "Not that she is much better, but she is the daughter of sky mentioned in the prophecy. I believe even you can see that, boy."

Percy grit his teeth. "I think I told you this before; I _don't_ take orders from you," he growled, reaching for Riptide in case things got ugly.

"Percy, haven't you caused enough trouble for one day?" Silena tried to get him to back down, but he remained adamant.

"I agree with Percy," the Connor Stoll said. "Besides Pinecone Face, he's our strongest camper. It'd probably give you guys an edge, right?"

Percy was hurt by the fact that he said Percy was weaker than Thalia, but was thankful that the guy rooted for him.

"Is it decided then?" Beckendorf spoke up. "Two campers, one Hunter; three is usually the correct number for quests."

"Unacceptable," Zoë said yet again. "I refuse to travel with a boy, but if you are forcing my hand, then it will at least be equal. I elect Bianca di Angelo to the quest as well."

"Wait what?" Bianca looked confused.

"Wait what?" Percy agreed.

"Wait what?" then the rest of the people gathered there.

"B-but I," the girl started to argue. "I just started like a few days ago!"

"One day ago," Zoë corrected. "And I realize."

"…If that is your decision," even Chiron seemed hesitant. At least when Percy went on his first quest, he got a few weeks of training first. "Then it will be respected. Bianca, do you object?"

"I…I don't really have a choice, do I?"

"Hey, she catches on quick," Travis Stoll joked, causing the Hunters to glare at him and shut him up.

"Then it is decided. You four will be sent off in the morning."

xxxXXXxxx

After the meeting, Zoë pulled Percy aside. "What do you want?"

"I do not want to hear any of your drivel, understood?" she said immediately.

"Drivel? What are you talking about? If you're worried about me hitting on you, I-"

"Even if you did, I would _never_ even think to fall for a child like you," she interrupted.

"I was _going_ to say, before you interrupted me, that your master already gave me a warning. Trust me, I want to be turned into a jackalope about as much as you want her dead," he claimed. Zoë wasn't sure how to respond to this. She'd expected him to mock or berate her for her suspicion and accusatory tone, but he just agreed. Without having anything to say, he just stared at the boy indignantly. "…You look proud," he noted. "Maybe you should drop the look, if we're gonna work together, Zoë."

"Correction; we are simply travelling to the same location at the same time."

"And along the way we'll run into monsters and probably Kronos' army and then I'll save your ass and you'll save mine. Yeah, that's called working together," Percy crossed his arms.

"Ha!" she feigned humor. "Such braggadocio!"

"I don't what that means," Percy replied, and this time, Riptide wasn't there to give him the answer. "You're talking about my skill in battle?"

"Your skill, perceived as it may be, is of little importance. No demigod could match a Hunter in strength, speed, or stamina," she said, but Percy had stopped paying attention.

"Wait…say that again."

"What?" she looked confused.

"What you just, say it again."

"…No demigod can match-"

"No, no, before that!" Percy insisted. Zoë looked like she thought he was messing with her.

"Your skill, perceived as it may be-"

"Oh my gods!" Percy exclaimed, his eyes bright with excitement. "It's you!" he exclaimed.

"What are you babbling about, boy?" Zoë questioned, stepping away from him and crossing your arms. "Do you take me for a fool?"

"No," Percy drew his sword. "You're my sword, right?"

"No, I am not," Zoë stated. "I am Zoë Nightshade, Lieutenant of my lady Artemis."

"No, you're definitely my sword," he said. "You have the same tone and inflection and everything! Gods, it's a wonder I didn't realize it sooner. I mean, my sword goes silent whenever I'm around you, and comes back whenever I'm not around you. Though, you do talk differently; Riptide is a lot more modern than you, and makes a whole bunch of references."

Zoë looked incredibly insulted by the accusation. "Why, you stuck up…half-witted…scruffy-looking…Nerf-herder!"

Percy's jaw very nearly dropped. "Holy shit it _is_ you!"

"I have had enough of this!" Zoë gave up and stormed off. Percy stared after her.

"Oh, I like you as my sword better," he said as he put Riptide away.

xxxXXXxxx

Percy went out to the woods after dark, being unable to sleep. He kept pacing along the river, rubbing his fingers together restlessly. He'd been out there for a few minutes already, but the nervous energy just wouldn't leave his system.

"Whatcha doing?" he heard a voice. When he turned, he saw Bianca, sitting along the waterside.

"I, uh…" Percy wasn't sure how to respond. He wasn't really "doing" anything.

"Do you always come out here at midnight just to pace?" she wondered.

"N-no," Percy said defensively. "I-I just, uh…"

" _Smooth…"_

"Shut up," he whispered as he walked over to her and sat down beside her. "Um…good evening," he started. Bianca smiled.

"Hiya!" she returned. "Can't sleep?" Percy shook his head. "Yeah, me neither."

"Um…did you come out looking for me?" Percy wondered. "Because I think both Zoë and Artemis would kick my ass if-"

"No, silly," she said. "I just couldn't sleep, and I took a walk."

"…And you chose the woods, and _not_ the beautiful lakefront?" he questioned. Bianca shrugged, like it was no big deal. "Right…anyway, I was thinking-"

"That's rare, from what I hear," she teased.

" _I like her,"_ Riptide commented.

"Hey! Who told you that?"

"Oh, you know…people," she turned away and rocked back and forth. "But I mean, if _you_ were thinking, then _I_ came out here to look for you."

"…Right, so I was thinking," Percy repeated, to which the di Angelo rolled her eyes in amusement. "That if you stop being a Hunter, you should play pro-volleyball. What do you think?"

Bianca laughed. "Yeah, I've been told that by a few campers today."

"Really?" Percy was a bit surprised. "I thought they'd all tell you to go shove it."

"Well, that too," she admitted. "I didn't realize how hated the Hunters are."

"Neither did I," he agreed. "But I don't blame the campers; most of the Hunters are pretty uptight and holier-than-thou, don't you think?"

"I suppose. It doesn't really bother me, though."

"Yeah, but nothing bothers you."

"You don't know that. I could have some major pet peeves!" she claimed.

"Uh-huh."

"…You don't believe me."

"Well, let me put it this way. I believe you on this about as much as I believe that you didn't come out here looking for me."

"Whatever," she relinquished, still smiling. "Oh!" she reached into her back pocket. "I've been meaning to return this to you," she handed Percy a baseball cap; it was Annabeth's. "I found it on the ground after she fell."

"Oh, um…thanks," Percy's mood instantly shifted for the worse. He sighed. "I've, uh…got to return it to her when we find her."

"And you will, right?" Bianca asked.

"Sure…maybe…" Percy didn't sound so sure.

"Come on, be more confident!" she encouraged. "You're a hero, right? Big and strong, like Hercules!" she flexed.

"I don't know…" Percy said, looking away. "Lately, I've been feeling more like a loser than a hero."

"Because of Thalia Grace?" Bianca guessed.

"…Is it _that_ obvious?"

"Well, not _super_ obvious, but enough. I think you both are a bit too similar for your own good."

Percy sighed. "That's what Annabeth said too, but I don't see it."

"Hm…you're both full of yourselves, for one, but I guess Zoë is too…I feel like you both feel want to be the leader, but for different reasons. She wants to be it because she feels like she has to, and you feel like to be the leader because you can't trust anyone else to do it."

"…Maybe," Percy humored her. "I've been told I'm not very trusting too."

"Well," Bianca put a hand on his shoulder. "I think you're very brave. I mean, you faced that monster alone to protect my brother," she grazed the closed wound on his arm, from when he blocked a spike from impaling her. "And you protected me."

"Yeah…" he wasn't that cheered up by her gesture, just brought his knees closer to his chest. "But…look at how far I've come…and I couldn't even protect the one person who mattered," he said inwardly, not even realizing how rude that sounded. Bianca didn't take it that way, though.

"We'll find her," she repeated, more forcefully this time, but he only sighed, and nodded. Bianca leaned forward to get a better look at Percy's face. To the elder di Angelo, he looked as if he already knew that they would find her, but knowing that didn't help the loneliness he was feeling in her current absence. "You…really care about her, huh?" she guessed.

The son of Poseidon took a deep breath. "Yeah…" he said. "She's…probably the most important person in my life."

"What about your parents?" she wondered, and instantly regretted asking about.

"Well, my mom died the night I came to camp," Percy noted bitterly. "And my dad disowned me a month later, and still refuses to claim me, so…yeah, I can't say we're close."

"Oh…I'm sorry," she offered. "I know how it feels, though, to live without them."

"Really?"

"Mhm," she nodded, her joy momentarily being sucked out. "Nico and I…we never knew our dad; I guess he was one of the Greek gods all of this time…but our mom was there, until I was twelve. Then a lightning bolt struck the hotel we were at. She died, but some man in a suit came and saved Nico and I. We wandered for a few years, I think…those were hard times," she admitted. "But that's where I learned to smile."

"For Nico?" Percy guessed. Bianca shook her head.

"For myself. If I didn't smile in those years, I would've just given up, I think. And me not giving up was more important than making Nico happy. Because me not giving up meant Nico and I stayed alive; he wouldn't have survived without me, I don't think."

"…You really love him, don't you?"

"Wouldn't you love your brother?" Bianca questioned.

"Yeah, I did," Percy returned. He silently wondered why, if she loved him so much, she would abandon him to join the Hunters.

Bianca quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, then next thing I know, I'm having fun at the Lotus Hotel, and I run into you and…" she trailed off.

"Right, I remember."

Bianca took a deep breath, and then regained her smile. "You were cuter back then."

"Um, thanks?" Percy wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"Yeah, now you look kind of broody," she claimed.

"Oh, thanks!" the two laughed at that, the mood having lightened a bit. Percy quickly found out that Bianca usually knew how to lighten the mood, even when she was feeling down herself. It was one of his favorite qualities about her. After the laughter died down, the two sat in silence for a while, listening to the sounds of the night. "So…what exactly do you get from being a Hunter?" Percy wondered. "Like…you get the silver glow and stuff, and you're immortal now I guess? But, like, what actual _stuff_ do you get?"

"Ooh!" her eyes lit up. She willed two items to appear. "They gave me this awesome bow and a magical quiver that never runs out of arrows!" she exclaimed. "Apparently the bow is like five times stronger than Celestial Bronze! Cool, right?"

"Cool," Percy agreed, feeling a bit jealous.

"Here, you wanna see?" she offered it to him, but he refused.

"No, no, I'd rather not take the chance of disrespecting your master."

"Oh, well…" she put those away, and summoned another item, a rope with a hook on the end. "They also gave me this magical grappling hook thing!"

"Like Batman?"

"Totally like Batman!" she agreed excitedly. "Apparently it'll automatically hook onto whatever I throw it against, so I can swing anywhere or pull myself up high ledges or whatever I need!"

"Wow, sounds useful. Um…so is it stretchy like a bungee cord or…"

"What's a bungee cord?"

"…Oh, I forgot, you don't know anything past 1942," Percy remembered, making Bianca frown a bit. "Speaking of, why didn't you come with me and my friends out of the Hotel like two years ago?"

"Oh, I don't know; why didn't you tell me that we were Greek demigods when you had the chance?"

"Hey, I can't smell demigod on you," Percy retorted. "And besides, you don't just go around and tell everyone that you're a demigod; that's a good way of getting yourself killed, you know?"

"Pft, excuses, excuses," she said playfully.

"Whatever," Percy gave up. "Anyway, what about the jacket?"

"What jacket?"

"The Hunters' jackets; the gray ones? Every one of them has one, right?"

"O-oh," Bianca waved that off. "They say I'll get it after we rescue Artemis," she claimed.

"Oh…well, it's winter, so…" Percy slipped off his own. "You can use this one."

"But I-" she started to argue, even after accepting the navy blue sweat jacket.

"It's fine; I have another one my girlfriend bought me. Just take it," he insisted.

Bianca slipped it on. It was a bit big for her, but not by much; Percy's torso was never very broad or bulky. "A-alright…" she conceded. The two went quiet again, for just a moment. "Hey, uh…Percy?"

"Yeah, what?"

"I, uh…" she struggled to find the words. The son of Poseidon turned to her.

"What is it?"

"I…" she sighed, and then smiled at him. "It's nothing. Never mind," she stood. "Hey, I'm tired. Do you wanna walk me back to the Artemis cabin?"

Percy stood as well, seeing that Bianca's silvery glow as a Hunter actually helped illuminate the dark forest. "Okay…tell you what, Firefly, I'll walk you to _the_ cabins, and let you go the rest of the way before I go to my cabin, deal?"

"What? Afraid of a bunch of girls?" Bianca accused.

"Pft, not on your life!" Percy said, noogying the younger girl before the two walked back into camp.

xxxXXXxxx

After Percy bid Bianca good night, he approached the Hermes cabin, being careful not to alert anyone that he was out past curfew. He'd actually become really good at it since he first arrived a year and a half ago; the Hermes cabin had about as much homeliness as those shitty apartments in early New York for immigrants right near the port. It was too crowded for Percy's taste.

His footsteps creaked on the wood, unfortunately. He reached for the knob. "What are you doing?" there was a voice behind him. Percy jumped at it, and turned around.

"Nico?!" he demanded. "How did you…I mean, I _know_ that no one was there!" he claimed.

"Yeah, because there wasn't," he said nonchalantly.

"…I don't get it."

"Well…" Nico stepped back a few steps, in the shadows on the side of the cabin, and then reappeared in the shadows on the porch. "It's called shadow-travelling."

" _It's called being an asshole,"_ Riptide claimed.

"And…how long have you been able to do that?" Percy wondered. The boy shrugged.

"A few weeks. Kinda takes a lot out of me if I do it too much, but whatever," he said it as if it were no big deal.

" _Dude, this is huge!"_ Riptide exclaimed in his head. He nodded.

"Nico, do you know what this means?" Percy asked.

"…Should I?"

"It means…that you're a son of Hades," he announced.

"…cool, where's his cabin? This one is too stuffy."

"What?" Percy couldn't believe what he was hearing. "No, you don't get to go to Hades cabin."

" _There is no Hades cabin,"_ Riptide reminded him.

"Correction, there _is_ no Hades cabin," Percy said. "But even if there was, you wouldn't be allowed to enter it."

"…why not?"

"Because your godly parent has to claim you in order for you to be allowed to enter their cabins. If you'd enter a cabin unannounced or without permission, it'd be a major sign of disrespect," Percy explained, but Nico just looked confused. "Okay, look; I'm the son of Poseidon. I know that, but he won't claim me. Because I wasn't claimed, I can't enter the Poseidon cabin unless it's under specific circumstances."

"…So I'm stuck in the Hermes cabin is what you're saying?"

"Is that all you care about?" Percy wondered. Nico shrugged. "You've got some screwed up priorities, kid."

"Says the one who's more interested in a girl than saving the world," Nico argued.

"No, that's completely- wait, how do you know that?" Percy demanded. The youngest di Angelo turned away. "Were you eavesdropping in the shadows?!"

"…Maybe," he admitted. "What's the issue with that?"

Percy was going to reprimand the boy, but he was far too tired to do so. "Look, just…don't abuse your powers, alright? And don't tell _anyone_ who your godly parent is."

"Why not?"

"Because children of the Big Three have the shittiest lives of all the demigods," Percy claimed. "Trust me; I speak from experience."

"…What about Bianca?"

"She doesn't realize," Percy claimed. "Or at least she hasn't told me. She should be safe with the Hunters and if we're lucky they're masking her stronger scent as well. So long as she doesn't find out, we're good, because then her scent won't be as potent. It's already bad enough we have two Big Three kids going on this quest…" Percy muttered.

"Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"What?" Percy wasn't exactly in the mood to answer favors.

"I need you to protect Bianca," Nico said. "I know she doesn't like me doting on her, but she's way too careless."

"You sure?" Percy smirked. "Last time I checked, _she_ was the older sibling."

"Maybe in age, but not in maturity," Nico claimed. "She probably barely registered what we were going through on the streets when we were little. She just kept smiling like an idiot, and I always had to pull the weight," Nico explained. " _I_ had to be the one to mature, for the both of us."

Percy took a deep breath. " _And now you've heard both sides of the story,"_ Riptide noted.

" _I didn't even know I was supposed to hear the story,"_ Percy thought back. "Anyway, Nico, I think Bianca can take care of herself."

"You don't know that."

"No, I do," Percy insisted. "Zoë trusts her enough already to bring her along, and she really proved herself both against the Manticore and against us campers in the competition."

"Just because she beat us at volleyball, doesn't mean that-"

"Nico, if anything, she'll be saving _my_ ass," Percy assured. "She'll be fine. Trust me; I don't think anyone has ever died on their first quest," he said, putting a hand on his shoulder as he entered the cabin. "And don't forget what I told you; don't tell anyone who your parent is."

It didn't take Percy long after that to get in bed and fall asleep.

Nico, on the other hand, stayed outside. He clenched his fist. "Fine…if you won't protect her, then _I_ will…one way or another…"

xxxXXXxxx

The next day, the group was seen off like usual. The Hunters bid Zoë and Bianca a traditional farewell, with Zoë leaving Phoebe in charge until either she or Artemis returned. Bianca bid her little brother a goodbye hug and told him to stay out of trouble, and to try and smile more.

Thalia and Percy didn't really have anyone to say goodbye to. Well, Percy had Silena and Beckendorf, but that was just a quick "try not to die" before they left to do their chores, so the two Big Three children were largely alone.

Percy made a mental checklist of what he brought; his red jacket that Annabeth had given him, her invisibility cap, the shield Tyson had given him, which he had strapped to his back almost like a turtle shell, and Riptide of course. Percy figured he ought to take the shield, given how badly his arm got hit during his last outing. Besides, he'd been practicing with it lately, might as well put it to use.

Thalia had her Aegis and Regalia, and that was about it. But for her, that was all she needed. She stared out into Camp Half-Blood, her eyes showing a bit of longing. It was as if this was the last time she'd get to see this place.

"Don't get your hopes up," she said calmly.

"Hm?"

"About Annabeth, or about this quest. It won't end well either way."

Percy took a deep breath, and nodded. " _Battle lost by stars and moonlight fall_ …doesn't exactly bode well."

Thalia nodded. Soon, the Hunters joined them. "Alright, let's go."

 **Author's Note:**

 **Good lord there are so many scene changes in this one, it's nauseating. Anyhoo, thank you all for being so patient and understanding, and for all of the wonderful reviews you left me to read while I had some spare time at the shore. Fun fact: during this break, we passed both to 15,000 milestone AND the 16,000 milestone in terms of overall view count, so thank you all!**

 **Also, for that one guy who says they don't like this version of Bianca: I completely agree. She's not even funny. Who writes her material, god! It's probably the same asshole who gave her a 1970s reference in the volleyball chapter when she shouldn't know anything past 1942, and who left the last line of the first prophecy unchanged without realizing that Percy didn't have anything to fail to save. Jeez, what an idiot.**

 **Anyway, let me know what you thought of this chapter in a review!**


	31. On the Verge Of Assault

Artemis struggled under the weight. Even as a goddess, she wasn't cut out for this; her legs wobbled, her arms felt like jelly. She would think it funny, if it wasn't so pathetic. "To think," she muttered to herself. Her voice sounded strained and throaty. "How my Hunters might react if they saw me like this…"

"Oh, but they will," a voice claimed. His voice was that of stone; cold and rough. It was so deep, it sounded almost like the onset of an earthquake; a low rumble. Artemis knew that this person wasn't present, just speaking with her telepathically, but that was the problem. In theory, _no one_ should be able to speak with a god telepathically, not even other gods. The thought shook the goddess of the hunt to her core.

"…" Artemis tried to be as stone cold as this voice.

"Oh please, little goddess. You can show a bit of emotion; it is just the two of us. It is quite alright to feel that encroaching… _despair_ …I would not judge you. I had felt the same way when it dawned on me just how long eternity was."

"You received exactly what you deserved, snake," Artemis retorted, though it came out more desperate than threatening. "You were too confident; you believed you could overpower anyone, anything. Lord Zeus put you here to humble you, to give you something that you could never overpower."

"And yet, little goddess, who is under that 'something' now?" he wondered. Artemis remained silent, just hung her head. "If it makes you feel any better, you will have some visitors very soon."

"You lie," she claimed.

"I am afraid I am not," the voice said. "Your loyal lieutenant and three others are coming to rescue the little goddess."

"Impossible!" Artemis snapped, trying to move, only to immediately regret it. She was stuck in an awkward standing position. Before her, that blonde girl had practically been face-down into the ground when Artemis took this weight from her. Inwardly, Artemis wondered how long she'd been carrying it.

"It must feel good, to have such loyal followers, that they would march right to their deaths to save you."

"They cannot…" Artemis didn't finish.

"You are correct. They cannot, and will not, reach you. And if they do, they will find that they were doomed from the start," the low voice claimed, before he started laughing. With each roar-like cackle, the mountain Artemis stood on shook more and more.

Though that could've just been her ever encroaching despair eating away at her.

xxxXXXxxx

"We're lost, aren't we?" Percy wondered as they zoomed south on the highway. Argus had left them in New York with a set of wheels; a white van. There was a pedophile joke in there, but Percy refrained. He was already disliked enough by two of his three companions.

"We are not lost," Zoë claimed.

"We're totally lost," Bianca agreed.

"That's because we _should_ be going west, not south," Thalia claimed, clearly annoyed. Percy almost expected a witty comment from Riptide, but then he remembered…but that also reminded him of a question he meant to ask Zoë.

"Hey," he started. "So, the Hunters forego the company of men, right?"

"Yeah," Bianca said.

"Okay, so, and hear me out here. Is the rule against _all_ romantic involvement or can two Hunters hook up and everything's good?" All three of them stared blankly at him. "What? It was a legitimate question," he claimed.

"I don't think Zoë wants to answer," Bianca said cautiously; even she knew that the girl hated that kind of insensitivity.

"That," Zoë's tone was intense. "Would be correct."

After a while on the highway, Bianca noticed something. Her ADHD brain wandered every which way as her eyes wandered from thing to thing. "Hey, there's a black car following us," she claimed.

"What?" Thalia questioned, checking behind them. "I don't see anything," she said skeptically.

"It's because they're trying _really_ hard not to be noticed," Bianca claimed.

"To be fair, I don't see anything either," Percy said. "Not that I agree with the Pinecone Face or anything."

"It would be unlikely that you would see what she can. Bianca di Angelo is a Hunter; we do _everything_ better than you demigods."

"So you have like super-vision or something?"

"Cool!" Bianca smiled. "Do I get X-ray vision too?" she joked.

"We need to pull off," Thalia suggested before anyone could not laugh. "We should either face them or lose their tail. Otherwise…"

"Well, we _are_ in D.C.…" Zoë pondered the idea for a moment before exiting and then parking along the curb in the city. The four sat there for a moment, with Zoë and Bianca looking around. "Lost them…"

"Good," Percy said.

Zoë frowned. "No, as in _I_ lost them; they did not stop following, just went out of our sight."

"Then I'll look for them," Percy offered.

"No, why would-" the Hunter started to argue.

"He has the invisibility cap," Thalia agreed. "He wouldn't get caught."

"…Okay fine. But we cannot just sit here," Zoë said. "We enter the museum, act like we are looking for something. Perhaps they shall think we tracked my lady to this location."

"Alright," Percy opened the door, and was about to put the cap on, but Thalia stopped him.

"Whatever you do, _don't_ engage whoever is following us. Not without backup."

Percy nodded. "Trust me; I'm a quick learner," he said, putting the cap on and exiting the van.

xxxXXXxxx

It didn't actually take very long to find the black car. The issue was not bumping into people while invisible. " _You know, it's amazing how much we take for granted being seen by other people,"_ Percy thought. He didn't want to talk, for fear of giving himself away to a potential monster.

" _I know, right?"_ Riptide returned.

" _Oh hey, you're back."_

" _Yeah…jeez, I_ hate _you being around that Zoë girl. I can't make fun of you or even crack a joke to lighten the mood!"_ it complained.

" _Oh, my heart bleeds,"_ Percy returned, smirking…not that anyone could see it.

" _I can see it."_

" _Shut up, Riptide,"_ Percy ordered as he saw the black car's doors open. From the car, a man with a buzz cut and two different eye colors stepped out. He looked around cautiously, before going toward the museum, which was the National Air and Space Museum. " _Ah, Dr. Thorn…I believe we have some unfinished business,"_ Percy thought, his eyes lowering into a deep-rooted scowl.

His first thought when he saw the man was that if he survived the fall, then Annabeth in Zoë's dream couldn't have been a trick. Percy really wanted to go up to Thorn right then and beat the information out of him as to her location, but he managed to hold himself back, though it took every ounce of his willpower to do so.

He followed Thorn from a distance as he followed the other three. He didn't actually enter the Air and Space Museum, but instead veered off to the Museum of Natural History. Percy followed suit, entering this big area with two floors. On the second, there was a balcony which was lined with monsters and rogue demigods, at least a dozen of them. On the first floor was another three dozen monsters, which now included Thorn.

Luke stood just off-center on the balcony, looking down at the grotesque amalgam of evil. His face showed no emotion, but his face, and the rest of his body for that matter, looked too pained to really care. His skin was sickly white, like whiter than the moon…and not like Artemis but the actual…never mind. On top of that, his scar, normally a couple shades darker than his skin, was now pink and looked almost swollen it was so pronounced on his face. It looked as if it had been recently reopened. His arms were boney, and he seemed almost sick, in a way.

" _Hey, you might actually stand a chance against him now,"_ Riptide teased. Percy didn't respond. " _…Too soon?"_

"Way _too soon,"_ Percy agreed.

"Welcome back, Dr. Thorn," a voice emerged from the darkness behind Luke. It sounded like the beginnings of a volcano erupting. "Status report, if you will."

"General," Thorn addressed the voice in the shadows. "I have led them here, as promised. Two Hunters and two demigods."

"I see…who are the Hunters?"

"A newcomer, one of the ones from Maine. And Zoë Nightshade, the moon goddess' lieutenant."

"Ah…my daughter," he said wistfully.

"Shall I bring her before you?" Thorn wondered.

"I doubt you could do so yourself, wretch," the General insulted Thorn, who just took it like a bitch. "No, my daughter will come back to me herself in due time…where are they?"

"In the rocket museum," he claimed.

"The Air and Space Museum," Luke corrected. "It's right across from here. And is a child of the Big Three with them?"

"Yes; two, in fact."

"Ah," the voice sounded amused. "So we have both your Thalia, and that wretched Cruel Spider, do we?"

"It would appear so," Luke agreed cautiously. "Allow me to handle them. I can-"

"No," the voice interrupted. "You are far too important, boy."

"Then allow me!" Thorn said.

"Hm…" the General considered it. "You _do_ have a score to settle, I suppose…very well. But you must bring one of them alive, understood?"

"Yes, General."

"If you fail, do not even show your face to me again, or it will be the last thing you ever see."

"Y-yes, G-General," Thorn looked genuinely unnerved, and Percy wasn't sure why. When monsters die, they just reform in Tartarus…unless this 'General' could bypass that somehow. The thought frightened even Percy. "Shall I…fight them alone?" he asked cautiously.

"Oh, of course not," the General said. Percy could tell he was smiling. "You will have assistance aplenty," he said. "Bring the teeth," he ordered. Within second, huge, spiky teeth were held up for the General to see. Or, Percy assumed he could see them; he couldn't see his eyes. "Plant them," he said, finally coming a bit into view. His face was still shrouded in shadow, but his body was absolutely incredible. He had four arms, and each looked like it could crush a baby's skull just by flexing.

" _Why does he look like Darkseid from the Justice League show?"_ Riptide wondered.

" _No, shut up, he might be able to hear you!"_ Percy snapped in his head, as he saw the teeth be planted in bits of soil on the ground. The General held his hands out.

"Rise!" he ordered, and soon, skeletal hands shot from the soil and out rose twelve skeleton warriors. Each, before Percy's eyes, grew skin and eyes and soon looked relatively normal, only their skin was paler than Luke's and their eyes were that disturbing yellow color you see in the fake vampires in the Twilight movies.

The transformation itself was absolutely sickening, as all of the blood vessels and muscle and skin grew separately. " _Oh gods…I think I'm gonna be sick…"_ Riptide moaned in Percy's head.

"Now…let us give them a test, before we set them loose, shall we?"

"Um…sir?" Luke seemed confused.

"We have a visitor," the General claimed, and it instantly sent a chill down Percy's spine. "Right," he pointed at Percy. "There."

" _Uh…sorry,"_ Riptide said. Percy quickly turned around and broke into a run.

"Shut the gate!" Luke yelled down, with two monster pushing. "Now!"

Thankfully, Percy had been working on his 50m sprint and just edged out of the door as they shut it, pounding down to the Air and Space Museum to report.

He didn't remove the invisibility cap until he was past admissions, and then dashed around, frantically looking for them. He stomped up to the second floor, and finally spotted them. "Get out of sight!" he snapped as he caught up, with them all ducking behind a corner. Sure enough, they'd just escaped being spotted by the skeleton guys.

"Why are they after you?" Thalia demanded. "I told you not to-"

"I didn't," Percy said. "But guys, the General is _here_!"

Zoë reared back. "That is impossible," she argued. "You most likely saw an Iris-Message."

Percy shook his head. "Not a chance; he's here. If we hurry, we can catch him and-"

"And what?" Zoë questioned. "You are already being tracked. It is only a matter of time until they find us. We need to get moving, toward my lady Artemis!" she insisted.

"What? Don't tell me you're scared!" Percy accused.

"I am not!" Zoë claimed.

"Hey, no fighting! Zoë is right," Bianca said. "We should wait until we have the advantage to fight this General."

Percy considered this. "Well…we _are_ outnumbered about fifteen to one…" he considered. "Fine, but there's no way we'll get to the car without them noticing. And there's no way we'll get through rush hour traffic without them noticing, catching up, and mauling us while we're trapped inside the van," Percy argued.

"Then we improvise," Bianca suggested.

"Or we plan," Thalia said. "Two of us can lead off the monsters so the van can get through traffic. Once we're out of the city, the two decoys can meet up, and we can make a fast getaway," she suggested.

"Okay, who are gonna be the decoys?"

"I suggest Thalia and Percy," Zoë said. "You two have the strongest scent; the monsters will follow you."

"Fine by me," Thalia said.

"Actually," Percy spoke up. "Dr. Thorn is with them, and monsters won't be chasing us," he said, quickly explaining about the skeletal warriors. "I don't know what they are or how they work, but my bet is that Thorn's controlling them for now."

"And?"

" _And_ Thorn has unfinished business with Bianca and I from Westover. I think it should be us who decoy."

"That's ridiculous," Thalia said. "The scent is stronger with us anyway," she insisted.

"And I would rather die than be protected by her while driving," Zoë agreed.

"Suck it up," Percy said, quite disrespectfully. He was surprised she didn't slap him before he and Bianca bounded off to get the enemy's attention. "You know," he mentioned. "This might be the most solid plan a group has ever come up with while I was in it."

Which of course is why it all went horribly, horribly wrong.

xxxXXXxxx

It went okay at first. The Manticore was quick to settle his score, coming after the both of them immediately, with most of the skeletal warriors following in suit. "So," Percy started as they ran. "Which one do you want?"

"I'll take neither; you're Mr. Hero, right?" Bianca mentioned.

"Well, yeah, but- whoa!" Percy rolled under a slash from a skeleton that was behind a corner, seeing another about to skewer Bianca. "Get down!" But she had it handled, leaping right over the blade and quickly shooting an arrow into the thing's eye socket, point blank, before they kept running. "Whoa, okay, um…"

"That…wasn't me," she said, equally impressed. "That was the Hunter part," she explained as she looked back, seeing that they seemingly lost the Manticore, with only four skeletons on their tail now. "I also don't think that it hurt that thing."

"Oh…shit!" Out of the corner of his eye, Percy saw the Manticore bound up the stairs in front of them, and dash toward them, now fully in his monstrous form. His tail flicked spears at them. "Behind me!" Percy ordered, standing in front of her and slashing down the projectiles, but then the Manticore was right on them. Percy dashed to the left, just barely avoiding the monster's claws, while Bianca took her only option; she leapt off the side.

Percy saw her land on the exhibits that were supported by just wires. Percy had to immediately recover from his dodge, as now the skeletons that were chasing them had caught up, while the Manticore looked for a way to cut Bianca's foothold away.

Percy was busy dodging and slashing and parrying that he didn't even notice that he wasn't fighting all twelve. "Percy! Eight of them broke off!" Bianca called.

"Get over here, di Angelo!" Thorn yelled. "I need to lecture you!"

"I'd rather you try and maul me," Bianca mocked it, shooting arrows at it, but they were deflected by his tail. Percy managed to roll out of the mob of skeletal soldiers and tried to attack the Manticore. He whirled around and engaged Percy just as ferociously, as Bianca tried desperately to keep the skeletons off their back from her perch.

Percy hacked and slashed like mad through Thorn's spikes to get to him and then hastily avoided his first swipe and blocked the other with his shield. He noticed that the skeletons were advancing, and quickly kicked one away, into the crowd, before refocusing his attention on Thorn, who tried to bite Percy, but he bashed his shield into the monster's face, knocking out a few teeth.

The Manticore reared back, allowing Percy to slip behind him and slash at his hind legs, before propelling himself off of the railing as well. "What the hell are you doing?!" she demanded. "The wires can't take the-" she didn't finish. As soon as Percy landed, the wires snapped.

Percy was sent tumbling through the air, where he landed on another exhibit. Bianca reacted a bit faster, and managed to shoot her fancy grappling hook and swing herself to the ground. "I will kill you two if it's the last thing that I do!" Thorn yelled as he recovered.

"Will you now?" he mocked, though he wasn't really paying attention. He just noticed the group of skeletal warriors that had been fighting him were now leaving. "Hey!" he called to them. "Get back here and fight!" he ordered, but they didn't even look his way.

"Percy!" Bianca called, pointing to the Manticore currently about to jump down and gore him. Percy leapt to a lower exhibit, and then leapt down to the ground. Each jump was made just before the Manticore caught up to him. He ran to the exit, but Bianca stopped him from going after the skeletons. "No, Percy."

"But…our job was to-"

"It doesn't matter; Zoë and Thalia probably already made it out of the city. Let's just focus on-" Percy pushed her out of the way of a swipe at her head, barely taking the blow with his shield.

"Alright, fine! We'll fight this thing," he conceded.

At the time, he didn't know why the others had left the fight; all he knew was that it infuriated him. Percy's mind kept wandering as he fought the Manticore. " _Did they think I wasn't worth their time?"_ Percy questioned in his head, as he lowered it to barely avoid another claw swipe. " _Do they think Thalia is more important than me?!"_ he was knocked away by a body slam, and only saved from a grisly fate by Bianca's timely 'shooting the bitch with arrows' thing. " _Now's not the time,_ " he quickly told himself.

Unfortunately, after Thorn closed the distance between them, Bianca didn't hold up as well, due to her lack of formal training and inexperience; that's something no godly blessing could give you.

Percy ran to get to them, but the Manticore raked its claws across her arm before Percy could engage him. Bianca stumbled back and stared at the blood oozing from her arm. It seemed that now, the true gravity of the lifestyle she was living dawned on her. Her face turned pale white. "Oh…oh gods…" she moaned, holding the wound and feeling warm thick blood sink between her fingers and down her arm. "Somehow the skeletal famine swordsmen were less repulsive…"

"Bianca, focus!" Percy yelled as he got Thorn's attention. "Shoot him now!"

"O-okay…" she said shakily. She drew an arrow and shot, but she was unable to aim properly. The arrow barely whizzed past Percy's ear.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"S-sorry!" she was quick to apologize, and nocked another arrow, trying a bit harder this time, but again with no luck. "I-I can't aim!" she cried. Unfortunately, this admission of weakness drew the attention of the Manticore once again, and it lumbered toward her.

"Try harder!" Percy ordered as he leapt onto the monster's back, keeping it occupied. Unconsciously, Percy saw the stab wounds from when Annabeth had jumped on its back. "Shoot it now!"

"I can't!" Bianca claimed, truly freaking out for the first time. "I-I'll shoot you!"

"No, you won't!" Percy claimed, giving her a smile, just like she had done for her little brother in his darkest moments. "You can do it, alright? Believe in yourself."

Bianca felt a chill run down her spine, but she nodded. "Alright…" she nocked the arrow and tried to fight through the burning weakness in her wounded arm. She aimed for the Manticore, and held it there, hesitating to shoot. She didn't know if she could take losing Percy.

"You can do it!" Percy repeated. Bianca nodded, more confidently this time, and let the arrow loose.

Blood spurt from the new wound. Percy was thrown off of the Manticore's back next to Bianca, as it writhed on the ground in puddles of its own blood. Bianca had lodged an arrow deep within the monster's eye socket. "Oh jeez; _how_ is that thing not dead yet?!" Percy demanded.

"What happens when a monster dies?" Bianca wondered.

"They usually turn into dust," Percy explained. "Just watch, you'll see in a few seconds."

"Wait, Percy," Bianca said. "What about meeting up with the others?"

"This will only take a-" a million thoughts instantly ran through his mind. "Oh gods…" he tore into a sprint, grabbing Bianca and running out the door.

"What?"

"They left! The skeletons left our fight!"

"So?"

"They left because they either already got what they wanted, or they were on the verge of getting it."

"And what did they want?"

"They wanted Thalia alive."

xxxXXXxxx

Percy and Bianca dashed off too fast for the remaining two questers to argue. Reluctantly, they made their way out the back of the museum and went to the street. They agreed to try and take a roundabout path, try and throw them off. What they didn't know was that these skeletal fighters were just following mindlessly, not planning their route. "If only the Cruel Spider had explained them better…" Thalia berated the boy when they finally made it to the van.

"Agreed," Zoë said, opening the driver's side door. She was about to step in, but Thalia pulled her back. It turned out that if she had sat in the seat, she would've been run through by a steel sword. As it was, the sword just tore through the seat cushion. The back door opened, revealing two skeletal warriors. "Well, so much for the decoys,"

Both girls quickly drew their weapons as six more skeletal warriors surrounded them in addition to the two from the van. "I'll get their attention," Thalia said. "You get the van working."

"If you insist," Zoë agreed, letting loose a barrage of arrows to start as Thalia engaged the majority of the skeletons, with the others soon joining in on attacking her exclusively. It was quite clear that they were really only after her. Zoë climbed into the chair, doing a split-second check that there weren't more enemies in the back of the van, before starting it. "Come on!" Zoë called, but Thalia was far to stressed trying to hold off eight opponents.

Thalia was just barely keeping them at bay with both her shield (which the skeletons weren't afraid of like normal monsters) and her spear. She couldn't stab them because then it would get stuck, and if she slashed them they didn't even miss a beat. Eventually, her defense broke. She got slashed pretty badly in her spear arm, which led to being slashed in the leg and then the face.

Thalia kneeled down, trying desperately to defend herself. One skeleton raised its blade to cripple her other arm, but something attached to it and then yanked it back, slamming it into the side of the van and then threw it away. Zoë had used her grappling hook to do so. "Come on!" she yelled, seeing small drops of blood form on the ground at Thalia's feet.

Thalia took her chance and weaved through the mass of enemies, and dove into the open back. Zoë zoomed off, not even bothering with traffic, and shot over to the Air and Space Museum, on the off-chance that Bianca and Percy were there still trying to get to them, but they weren't. Then they sped off toward the edge of town to wait for them. "We'll only have a few minutes," Thalia claimed, sweating from her battle and especially from her wounds. "After that, we need to leave."

"Or just change location," Zoë said. "I will _not_ leave a fellow Hunter behind."

Thalia glared at the Hunter from the back seat, but remained quiet, trying to conserve her energy. Suddenly, as they turned a corner, more skeletal warriors appeared out of nowhere, and slashed the front and back tires on their left side, with two more enemies standing in the middle of the road. Zoë quickly veered, but she overcompensated, and the van was sent tipping over and spinning.

"Oh…"Thalia moaned once they stopped. "I knew I should've driven…"

"I have been driving since cars were invented. It was no fault of a driver," Zoë claimed. Both girls somehow recovered their senses before the skeletons attacked, and burst out, seeing that the eight from before had caught up, and now there were four more, making twelve in total. "Okay, you take the six on the right. I will take the six on the left."

"Screw you; I'll take at least eight," Thalia said stubbornly. "Step back," she ordered as she began twirling her spear. She felt her wounded arm burn as energy coursed through it. Thankfully, the skeletons were too stupid to stand in anything but a clump. Thalia shot her spear forward and lightning arced out of the tip, exploding around the clump of skeletal warriors. "There…" she said, panting. "They're dead."

"Incorrect," Zoë disagreed, seeing through the smoke. "That did nothing."

"What?"

Sure enough, when the smoke cleared, the skeletal warriors were simply advancing toward the two. Zoë and Thalia backed up; they had no way of truly fighting these things. Luckily, their decoys arrived just then. As the skeletal warriors were about to attack, Percy leapt out of nowhere and bashed a few with his shield, at least holding them off for a few seconds. "Time to go!" He then ran to the two and grabbed Thalia's good hand, dragging her to run with him. Bianca soon came and did the same for Zoë. The skeletal warriors followed in suit.

They ran out of town, trying desperately to get away from their pursuers. Unfortunately, then they were attacked by something else. "I will murder you all!" Thorn screamed wildly as he pounced on the group, scattering them. He had pinned Zoë to the ground with the pounce. Bianca and Percy were now engaged with the skeletal warriors, and Thalia was struggling to stand.

The Manticore reared its scorpion tail back to stab into the back of Zoë's head while she was helpless, but Thalia quickly came to the rescue. She reared her arm back, and shot off her shield like Captain America would've. The normally defensive equipment bashed against the Manticore's head, dazing it just enough for Zoë to squirm free, and even grab Thalia's shield to return it to her. "Thank you," she said genuinely. "As I say, you would have made an excellent member of the Hunt."

Thalia nodded, and raised her spear, ready to attack the Manticore, but it seemingly lost interest in them. It focused its one working eye onto Bianca, and tried to claw her head off. Thankfully, Percy was there to back her up.

"Nu-uh," Percy blocked a blow and forced the monster back. "You're fighting me!"

"I don't concern myself with worthless trash!" the Manticore claimed, trying to weave around Percy, but his comment only made the son of Poseidon want to kill him more.

"Guys! Cover me!" Percy yelled as he fully attacked the Manticore, shredding through its now sluggish projectiles like butter and quickly closing the distance between them. Around them, the skeletal warriors had surrounded the larger group in a wide circle, with the other three members just barely holding it together. Percy knew he needed to end this quickly.

But even while fatigued, the Manticore was still a tough opponent, managing to avoid most of Percy's attacks. Percy tried laying down a finishing blow, a downward slash onto the Manticore's head, but it reared back, narrowly avoiding the strike, before slamming down, nearly crushing the demigod. Thankfully, he avoid it, and weaved around it, slashing at the beast's legs as he passed to make it slower, before slashing its back and reaching around its neck, about to sever its head.

"Wait!" Thorn called, making Percy hesitate ever so slightly. "I can tell you where the blonde girl is!"

Percy stopped, his blade against the monster's neck. Realistically, he knew that he needed to end this. A couple more seconds, and his fellow questers' position would break and they'd all be mauled by skeletal warriors except Thalia, unless Percy joined the fight. But still…

"Where is she?" Percy demanded. Thorn hesitated. Percy quickly removed his blade and severed one of its legs. "Where is she!"

"I would not tell you so easily, filth," the Manticore claimed.

"Percy! Kill it!" Bianca called, desperately holding off three skeletons. "And come help!"

"Tell me!" Percy repeated, stabbing into the monster's torso. Its blood now made a small pool around them.

"Haha…" its voice was by now barely human-like. "To think, so worthless you can't even torture properly."

Percy returned his blade to the beast's neck, his eyes wild with rage. "I can make this slow and painful," he claimed. The Manticore laughed once again.

"Alright, alright…the girl…is…"

Then the line broke. Thalia let one of them through to Percy, and it attempted a slash across his back. Percy was forced to let go, and bashed the skeleton back into position, but then more came, and then the Manticore got free and knocked Percy right into Zoë, with the Hunter ending up on top. Both were on the ground, with Percy holding up his shield trying to protect the both of them. At that point, neither cared how close they were. Bianca tried to help, knocking away one of the skeletons, but it didn't help much.

It seemed like a hopeless situation, when suddenly they heard singing. "I'm the best…around! Nothing ever gonna get me down!"

"Oh, let them kill us…" Zoë moaned upon hearing his voice, her breath warm on Percy's cheek; that's how close they were.

Suddenly, the skeletons that were brutally attacking the two were run over by the sun chariot. It was a good thing they couldn't feel, because that would have _sucked_ for anyone else. Not to mention, it vaporized them; three of the twelve, just gone.

Percy and Zoë stood and saw Apollo lean across his center console to see them through the passenger window. "Hey there, ladies!" he greeted, with Percy not even arguing. "You need a lift?"

"I would rather-" Zoë started to argue, but Percy slapped a hand over her mouth.

"We'd love one!" Percy said as the passenger door opened. He quickly shoved her in, much to her dismay, before going back and helping Bianca and Thalia retreat, with Bianca getting in the back first, followed by Percy, and then Thalia. Swords shot through the open windows. "Dude, roll up your windows!" Percy yelled. Apollo shrugged.

"Eh, if you insist," he said, and then they slammed shut, severing the arm of one of the skeletons. Even after it landed at Thalia's feet, it kept trying to kill them. Thalia had to hold it down with both feet until Apollo could leisurely lean back and zap it with sunlight, vaporizing it too. The skeletons banged on the car relentlessly, but they could no long get in. "So, where do we want to go today?"

"Anywhere where they won't follow us!" Bianca exclaimed, and immediately they took off. They weren't going as fast this time, but it still felt like they were in a fighter jet. Thankfully, the ride was smoother overall because Apollo had experience driving the chariot.

Percy made mental notes of the damages they'd sustained. Bianca had taken a nasty gash to the arm which she'd have to patch up. Zoë and Percy each took a few pretty nasty cuts each while they were on the ground. Thalia had it the worst. The floor beneath her already had plenty of blood stains. She looked to be straining to keep calm, trying to control her breathing. Good. "Here, do you want me to-" Percy was going to offer to wrap the wounds.

"Why didn't you kill it?" Thalia questioned. "You had it right there…"

"I…it had valuable information. I-"

"About what? You really believed it?" she looked at him, nothing but resentment in her eyes. It didn't even look like she regarded him as an ally anymore; he'd nearly gotten her killed.

"Look, if there was a chance that he knew where Annabeth was, then I-"

"Unbelievable," Thalia said. "You're _still_ chasing after that dream, huh?"

"Dream? You heard Zoë, she survived the fall."

"But she _wasn't moving_ , remember? Last time I checked, breathing made your chest move. She _wasn't_ moving, so therefore…" she hesitated. "Annabeth is dead!" she finished.

"You don't…"

"I don't even know why you care about her so much."

"What?!" that set Percy off. "How could I not? How come _you_ don't seem to care about her at all?!"

"I'm not talking about that," Thalia returned. "I'm asking why _you_ care. It's not like you were close."

"Don't you _even_ …"

"Face it; the only reason Annabeth ever tolerated you was because you were literally the last option. After I left, she only had Luke and after Luke left, all she had was you. In any other circumstance, she would've despised you. And the minute I got back, what happened? She stopped being with you. She was with me, remember? All of the time, she was with me, because she liked me, because we cared about each other," she claimed. "She never liked you, Percy. She never even cared about you."

That crossed the line. Percy, without thinking, shoved Thalia out of the car. The chariot stopped instantly upon the door opening, so there wasn't any whiplash or anything. Thalia was dangling about 15,000 feet in the air by Percy, who was holding her by her jacket. For the first time, Percy saw absolute fear in her eyes.

"You don't have the _right_ to say that!" he growled. "You have no idea what the fuck you're talking about! You don't know what we've gone through, what we've shared with each other! You! Don't! Know!" he yelled. Thalia didn't respond, and just barely registered his words. Part of it was her terror, but the other part was because she was focused on the owl necklace that had popped out of Percy's shirt and was swinging with each forceful shake he gave her.

"Alright, kiddies," Apollo eased. "That's enough; let's stop fighting now."

"Stay out of this!" Percy snapped ferociously.

"Percy!" Bianca warned.

"How dare you!" Zoë agreed, even as she despised Apollo.

Suddenly, the heat inside the chariot intensified immensely, as Apollo burst into flames. "You will _not_ speak that way to a god, mortal!" his voice turned into something more primal; deeper, more residual. Percy just stared back for a moment. "Bring the daughter of sky back inside!" Reluctantly, Percy obeyed, closing the car door as he did. Immediately, the chariot began driving again. Apollo then returned to normal. "Alright, cool. Now that that's settled…"

Percy didn't cease his glare at the daughter of Zeus. "If you _ever_ try and drive us apart…your shield and spear won't be able to protect you," Percy vowed before facing forward covering his face.

Thalia didn't have the words to respond.

Soon enough, the group landed in a trash heap. "Where are we?" Bianca wondered.

"The junkyard of the gods," Apollo stated. "No monster or skeleton thing would follow you here. Get a good night's rest, and then head off in the morning. Be sure to leave by dawn," he said, climbing back into his car.

"Wait, what happens at dawn?"

"See ya!" the chariot zoomed off into the sky.

Then, the four were alone again. "Alright! Who wants to start a fire?" Bianca tried to be cheery, but no one was having it. She turned to Thalia. "Can you light a-"

" _Don't_ speak to me," Thalia warned.

"Y-yes, ma'am…"

"If only you were still made out of a bark," Percy mocked. She stepped forward, about to fight now that they weren't thousands of feet above the ground, but her wounds stopped her.

"Alright, that is enough," Zoë called, her voice still strong somehow. "Let us set up a base camp and get some rest. We are all exhausted."

Everyone shuffled on their feet. "I'm going to scout," Percy announced. "I'm not coming back until morning," he said, walking off without waiting for an answer.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Fun fact: I was originally going to name this chapter "You Don't Have The Right To Say That" after the line near the end, but I eventually decided against it. and for those wondering, yes, this title is a reference to the Crisis Core soundtrack. Such a good song.**

 **So for this one I wanted to share this season's ending theme. It was really no contest for me; it's the Wolf's Rain opening song, _Stray_. "Starin up at where the moon should be" is an easy reference to Artemis. "Memories of generations burn within me" could refer to Zoë as her being so old and having so much experience. It could be Thalia living up to the previous children of Zeus, or Percy with Poseidon's children. "No regrets cause I've got nothin to lose" could refer to Percy acting as he wants, because if he dies, it's likely Annabeth will die as well, or it could mean something else...but I won't go into that. But of course, all of this pails in comparison to the real reason I picked this song. See, once the chorus starts, there's this great long shot of the main character of the show running...I just imagined Percy in there. I mean, he has a jacket, I said he grew his hair out. It sort of a fits, and then in the three following shots where the lead passes his companions, it could be Percy passing Bianca, looking more laid back, and then Zoë, looking saddened by the circumstances, and then Thalia, as she walks the same path but in a different direction than Percy.**

 **Anyhoo, let me know what you thought of this super-long chapter in a review!**

 **Also, if all you're going to do in a review is ask a question, please just PM me. And if one more person asks about why Percy is called "The Cruel Spider" I will have to choke a bitch. I literally explained in fifteen chapters ago now.**


	32. I'm Not Afraid Of Anything

Percy came to in a black void. It was an unusual dream for a demigod. Usually they're a lot more…detailed, but hey everything _else_ doesn't go normally for Percy, so why stop at his dreams?

It was weird too, like he was spotlighted. He felt ground beneath his feet, and saw gray stone when he looked, but everywhere outside of a small circle was just nothingness, and he didn't exactly want to test out if he could fall through or not.

"How's it going, Percy?" Luke's voice entered his ears as another spotlight came down, this one centered on the traitor himself. He looked just as bad as when Percy saw him in D.C. "It's been too long since we had a chat, don't you think?" he tried to play it off casual, and it almost worked, but Percy remained focused.

"Where is Annabeth?" he questioned. Luke frowned.

"…Jeez, the first talk in months and _that's_ the first thing you ask about?" he muttered, a bit disappointed.

"Cut the crap!" Percy snapped. "Tell me where she is; I won't let you take her away from me!"

"Percy, if I wanted you to know where she was, I would've told you already. Trust me, it would be more fun for me if you came running into my sword like an idiot, but that's not what's going to happen," Luke claimed. "And as for 'I won't let you take her,' it's a bit late for that, don't you think?" he motioned to his left, where another spotlight came down, and there she was, still in her dress, though by now it was torn down to almost nothing.

She wasn't moving just like Zoë had said, at least not visibly, but her ankles and hands were bound, so she _had_ to be alive. Her hair now contained a few streaks of gray, including a prominent one on her bang. Bruises lined her body and new scars were aplenty on her arms and face, though whether all of this was from the fall or if Luke had her tortured, Percy didn't know. Either way, it filled Percy with pure rage. "Annabeth!" he cried, immediately trying to run to her. Good news, he didn't fly off into a black void. Bad news; with each step, he drifted further away from her, so he quickly stopped. "Let her go!"

"I don't think so," Luke said nonchalantly, sitting down. "I think I'm going to keep her here with me for a while."

"No!" Percy yelled.

"Jeez, kid, you need to quiet down," Luke said, pantomiming cleaning out his ear. "Anyway, I figure since I've got you here for a little bit, I ought to make you my own personal deal."

"What are you talking about?"

"You see, my temporary boss, that General fellow, he doesn't want you for long, if at all. At best, he wants to break you and then throw you into Tartarus to die. Now, Thalia, on the other hand, is very valuable to us."

"I know; you tried to have her kidnapped too."

"Well, technically we ordered for you both, but Thalia was the better option, yes. Anyway, not important. So, here's my proposal. You come join us. No strings attached, no catch, you don't have to bring anything. You get to be with Annabeth again, Thalia won't be in danger anymore. It'll be great all around."

"What about Artemis?"

"What _about_ Artemis?" Luke questioned. "She's not involved with you. Now, I know you're just a little bit apprehensive since our Spartoi, those nice skeleton fighters, almost killed you multiple times, and that pesky Manticore did the same. I get that, but hey, come on. Is that really as bad as how you have it now?"

"I don't-"

"I mean, just look at your fellow questers. Only one of them can even tolerate you. The other two would rather ignore you or gut you themselves, right? And back at camp, your self-proclaimed title of best camper was snatched right out from under you by Thalia Grace, wasn't it? No one respects you anymore like they used to. Even Chiron would rather trust Thalia."

"You don't know that."

"Don't I?" Luke called his bluff. "I told you before; I have friends back at camp."

"I…" the fight in Percy's body slowly faded. "I've taken enough shit today. I don't need-"

"Exactly," Luke agreed. "You deserve better. You deserve a group of people who you can trust and who can trust you without question, don't you? And hey, we haven't even started talking about your dad," Luke knew he hit a soft spot when Percy flinched at his mention. "Yeah, if I didn't know any better, I'd say your relationship with Poseidon is worse than mine with Hermes. You fight and fight and fight in his name, and what has he given you? A rejection and a dead brother."

"Don't go there," Percy warned. "Don't say another word."

Silently Percy wondered how the hell this evolved into a normal conversation where he could say that and have it obliged, by the traitorous Luke Castellan of all people.

Luke held his hands up in relent. "Alright, suit yourself, but you get my point. You have nothing to gain from staying with the Olympians, do you? Come on, join me, join us. Together, I'm sure we can convince Annabeth and maybe even Thalia too. Then our victory is assured and we can all be happy and free. Come on. Let's see how far we've come," he said, mimicking what he said when he first made his offer a year and a half ago.

For a few terrifying moments, Percy considered it. To this day, Percy has no idea why he refused, but he did. "I can't," he claimed. "I just can't."

Luke's frown returned, but now it was a bit…colder. "Man…" he complained. "And here I thought I might actually get through that empty head of yours with just words."

"What?"

"Though I suppose it makes sense; children of the Big Three are unusually thick-headed most of the time. Fine," with a wave of his hand, Annabeth was suspended by the bonds on her wrists. "If you won't come to our side willingly, perhaps this will convince you to remedy your stubbornness."

Luke snapped his fingers, and Annabeth started writhing and crying out in pain as she was surrounded with a purple energy. "No!" Percy reached out, but he was unable to do anything. "What are you doing to her?!"

"Neat, huh? Yes, Kronos is gaining a multitude of allies, including the three Algea; the goddesses of pain and misery."

"Stop it! P-Please, I'll do anything!" Percy pleaded, but the horror show kept rolling.

"Sorry, Percy," Luke said, looking genuinely so. "But this was your choice."

On and on and on, seemingly without end, her cries of agony echoed in his ears.

xxxXXXxxx

Percy shook in his sleep, muttering things about Luke and Annabeth. "No…stop it…no…no!" Percy shot up, panting. It took him a solid twenty seconds to realize that his nightmare had ended. He realized that he was drenched with sweat, so he wiped his forehead with his jacket sleeve, still breathing heavily.

"It is alright," Zoë's voice came from his right. It was hard to make her out in the darkness, but the leftover embers from a fire helped. "You are awake."

Percy looked around, struggling to think of why she was here and why the others weren't. "Um…where are the others?" he wondered.

"They stayed at camp," Zoë explained.

"Okay…and…why are you here?"

Zoë looked to the horizon, or as much as she could over the mounds of Celestial Bronze trash. "I suppose it is payment for your aid yesterday. When we were on the ground and defenseless, you shielded me."

"Oh, that? It was nothing."

"It was not a compliment," Zoë claimed, sending a hard stare at the demigod. "It was a fact, nothing more."

"Alright, alright…" Percy conceded. "So…how long has it been?"

"Dawn should break soon," Zoë announced.

"Okay, so at least I got a decent night's sleep…" he muttered. The two were quiet for a moment.

"…You once claimed that I was your sword. I am curious as to why you thought that."

"Hm? Oh, I thought you were insulted by it."

"I was," she admitted. "But then I realized that you were too stupid to have meant harm."

"Okay…" he elected to ignore the stupid part. "Chiron gave me this sword when I fought my first monster, right? Next thing I know, there's this voice in my head, your voice minus the lack of conjunctions. Chiron said that it might be the sword's original owner choosing to speak with me. Jump ahead to three or four days ago, and you show up; the voice is gone. Let's just say I put two-and-two together."

"I see…by any chance, is your sword the Anaklusmos?"

"Well, yeah, but I call it Riptide."

Zoë scrunched up her nose. "Of course a boy would convert it unnecessarily."

"Whatever. So is it your sword or not?"

"Yes, I created that blade," she said. "But I never chose to communicate with you," she claimed.

"Well, maybe not consciously," Percy suggested. Zoë turned away childishly. "Hey, it's just an idea."

"Next time, save your 'ideas' for your sword."

"Jeez, way to be a killjoy," Percy mumbled. "Hey, Zoë?"

"What?"

"When I went to scout back in D.C., I saw…the General."

"…Choose your words carefully," she warned.

"Well, I'm not gonna lie to you. He said you were his daughter," Percy stated. "And he said that…you'd go back to him yourself, whatever that means."

"…" Zoë didn't respond for a while, just stared into the embers of the worn out fire. "…If he is where my lady Artemis is, then yes…I suppose I will go to him."

"Zoë, I need to make sure, because I've already had a friend betray us, that you won't-"

"You had best not imply that I would betray my lady."

"I would do no such thing," Percy assured. "But _I_ need to make sure. The prophecy said _friend turned foe a shadow's death become_ , right? I have to ask…is the reason you wanted to leave, so your father couldn't-"

"He has no pull on my fate anymore," Zoë claimed. "If he believes that he would trick me into betraying my lady, he can think again. If he would have me fight for him, he must force me to do it."

"But…" he goaded her.

"But what? I have nothing more to say," she claimed. Percy just stared at her. She soon sighed. "But…I would rather avoid dealing with him…if I could…"

"So you _were_ afraid!" Percy exclaimed, satisfied with himself. "I knew I was right."

"Must all boys be so insensitive?" Zoë questioned, standing. "Yes, I was afraid. If you knew who you were dealing with, then you would be too."

"Believe me, princess, I'm not _afraid_ of anything…except Artemis, but only ironically. If I fought her in a fair fight-" Zoë's threatening chuckle stopped him.

"Not afraid of anything, hm? I would not be so sure," she chided, before mimicking his voice. "'No, please! Do not hurt her! I will do _anything_ …'" she mimicked. "Perhaps it is not me turncoating that this group should be weary of," she claimed before she stormed away, leaving Percy alone with his thoughts once again. This time, since Zoë was still nearby at camp, Riptide wasn't even there to cheer him up.

Reluctantly, Percy stood as well, and followed Zoë back to camp. He saw that Thalia and Bianca's wounds were both wrapped up properly, and their things were packed back up and ready for travel. "Hi, Percy!" Bianca waved, cheery as ever. "Thalia showed me how to wrap wounds! See?" she showed her arm. Percy mustered a smile.

"Good for you," he said half-heartedly. He was thankful that at least one of his companions would tolerate him. Then he noticed something in the distance. "Um…guys? What is that rising from the trash?"

All three quickly got a better vantage point than Percy. "Oh gods…" Zoë's eyes widened.

"What is it?" Bianca wondered. "It looks like a giant statue!"

"It _looks_ like Talos," Thalia said. "But…it should still be wandering around Crete, why is it here…?"

"A prototype?" Bianca suggested. "This _is_ a junkyard of the gods, after all."

"It must be, and…" its eyes locked onto the group. "I don't think it likes us…"

"Run!" Zoë ordered, and she didn't have to tell them twice. They all ran as fast as they could toward the edge of the dump, towards the highway, but the giant statue quickly caught up. The group quickly scattered, with each drawing their respective weapons, and then subsequently hiding behind mounds of Celestial Bronze trash. "We need to get past this thing!" Zoë called to the others.

"How?" Bianca question, taking a shot at the thing, only for her arrow to bounce off. She then had to narrowly avoid its foot and move to a different hiding spot. "It's not exactly easy to pierce."

"Distract it!" Thalia called as she leapt out from her spot. The Hunters kept shooting arrows at the colossus' joints, annoying it. The daughter of Zeus twirled her spear around and collected energy onto it, before thrusting it forward, sending a bolt of lightning at the thing. The blast certainly did something. It made Talos fidget for a second before its attention got focused squarely on Thalia. Whoop-de-shit.

Thalia watched as it lifted its foot up and then stomped it down. She just barely avoided it, and actually found something that might help. "I found a weakness!" she called to the others.

"What is it?" Zoë inquired.

"There's a small hole on its foot; to enter it for maintenance. One of us should go inside and destroy it from within!"

"I'll do it!" Percy volunteered.

"No!" Thalia snapped. "No, no, no, no, no! I would rather die now then let you do that!"

"Why?" Percy questioned.

"Because you've ruined every plan I've come up with. You _won't_ do it again!" she vowed.

"Hey, Pinecone Face! I saved your ass back in D.C., you maybe wanna show a little appreciation?"

"You also almost got us killed in D.C. It evens out," Thalia argued condescendingly. Percy was about to throttle her, stepping towards her.

"Guys! Please," Bianca landed in-between them and held them back. "We need to focus. You can argue after we get out of this. I'll go."

"What? No," Percy said. "You're too new; you'll get yourself killed."

"She's shown more competence than you," Thalia commented. Nearly gone was her refusal to waste breath, if only for the sake of putting Percy down. "If you are to do it, then go."

"…fine, we'll cover you," Percy relented. Bianca nodded and ran off.

"No," Thalia said. "Zoë and I will cover her. You stay out of our way," she ordered. Bianca was already gone, so she couldn't defend him. Thalia ran off before he could argue further.

"I don't need this bullshit…" he muttered to himself, almost regretting turning down Luke's proposal.

The first part of the plan went swimmingly. Zoë was definitely the hardest of the group to hit, and she hadn't been hit even once. Talos raised its foot to stomp onto her, but Bianca dashed under it, and dove to where the hole wouldn't crush her. She had successfully infiltrated the statue, quickly making her way up and seeing some Celestial Bronze gears and whatnot to control it with. She could tell why Hephaestus scrapped it, as most of the gears were missing, corroded, or loose. She figured he just didn't want to bother fixing it and just started over. She cracked her fingers and grinned. "Alright, let's get to disassembling you."

Meanwhile, Zoë and Thalia were taking potshots at the statue's toes, trying to keep it off balance, with Thalia making sure not to use her powers at all while Bianca was inside. Unfortunately, it was working. It kept tripping and falling, closer and closer to the highway, where power lines stretched as far as the eye could see. It didn't help when Bianca started messing with the controls, making it have something to the effect of muscle spasms. If things weren't so perilous, one might find it funny.

"We need to draw it back in here!" Zoë called. "If not, it'll trip over the power lines and…" she didn't finish; she didn't have to.

"But how?" Thalia questioned, trying to get its attention again, but by this point it was more interested in what was messing up its system. "Nothing's working!"

Talos drifted further toward the highway, and it was becoming difficult to keep up with it. Suddenly Talos' arm fell off; the one that wasn't carrying the giant sword. It created a huge thud and knocked Thalia down for a bit, leaving Zoë to try and regain control of the situation.

"It's hopeless…" Zoë claimed.

Suddenly, Percy ran up in front of them. He stopped as he got into Talos' view. "I am _sick_ and _tired_ of playing second fiddle to a Goth bitch that's made of bark!" he roared, spreading his arms out in challenge. "Come on, you dented bastard! Fight me!"

Both Zoë and Thalia were horrified, not only because of Percy's huge show of stupidity and stubbornness, but because it was actually working. Talos momentarily regained balance, stopped, and looked down at Percy with something that could be described as curiosity; like a human would do for an ant that just walks up to them and waits to be crushed. Talos reared back its giant sword and thrust it forward. "Get the hell out of there!" Zoë called, but Percy didn't move…or, not much.

He side-stepped an unusually wide distance to avoid the blow, and held his blade up and braced himself as Talos attempted to correct his angle, with sparks flying as Percy's sword scraped against Talos' own until the giant had impaled it into the ground. Before it could retract the blade, its other arm fell off, and then its legs got disjointed, making the statue fall over in a loud crash. Soon, it stopped moving altogether.

Percy was panting from exertion; the amount of force that statue had in its attacks was absolutely incredible after all, and his teammates didn't exactly look eager to congratulate him, at least not openly. He quickly retracted Riptide and put his shield on his back before running toward the unmoving rubble. "Bianca!" he called, looking for a way inside the statue. "Bianca! Are you okay?"

Soon, the other two joined in searching. They searched for a good twenty minutes.

"Bianca! Bianca!" they all kept calling her name.

"Ah! What?" she responded, popping her head out of an eye socket. "What do you want?"

"We…" everyone gathered around her and Zoë helped her out of the statue. "We thought you were dead."

"Nah," she said it like it was no big deal, though she had her head down as she recovered. "I did black out though; hit my head pretty hard in the fall, but I mean," she looked up a grinned like nothing had happened, only there was a gigantic red welt on her forehead. "It's not that bad, right?"

Thalia grimaced. "Ooh…" Zoë scrunched up her nose.

"Ouch…" Percy agreed.

"What? What?" she looked to her allies. "Is there something on my face?"

"N…No," Percy waved it off. "There's nothing there, just uh…" he wiped some dust from her cheek. "T-there you go, back to normal."

"…I have a big thing on my forehead, don't I?" she poked it and winced.

"…Yeah," Percy admitted.

Bianca sighed and looked like she might actually get sad at the fact, but then she grinned. "Oh well!" she shrugged. "Let's get going!"

The others quickly agreed to leave before anything else came up.

Bianca lagged behind, along with Percy. "…That was brave, what you did," she said.

"Hm?" he wasn't really paying attention. "Oh, you saw that? It was nothing," he claimed.

Bianca giggled. "You're saying that staring down a Godzilla-sized bronze statue alone was 'nothing'?" she questioned. He turned away. "Look, Percy, I know you didn't do that for me. I may seem it, but I'm not naïve. I don't know why you feel like you have to live up to Thalia for some reason, and I don't really care…" she brought him into a hug. "Thank you. I'm sorry for not saying that sooner, back at the river."

"For, uh…for what?" Percy was reluctant to return the gesture.

"For saving me and Nico, back at Westover…and for just now. And if you're ever feeling like you aren't as good as Thalia, for whatever reason, just know that I think you're the bravest, most powerful demigod ever."

"I…I don't-" know what to say. He just hugged her back. "Thank you, Bianca. That means…a lot…"

Soon, the two separated and caught up to the other two. They made their way to the highway, where they found a brand new car waiting for them, with the keys already in the ignition. A note was left wedged between the window and windshield. It read: "I can't drive you ladies everywhere. –A. P.S. go to Hoover Dam. You'll find something useful there."

With their next destination set, they all hopped in the car and sped off down the highway, going west.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey all! thanks so much for reading! A couple announcements. First, thank you for reaching 80 reviews! That's the most I've personally had for a story! Second, I believe we're now up to 18,000 total views! Again, thank you!**

 **Anyhoo, not much to say today in terms of fun facts, because I've had this one planned for a while. I guess just let me know what you thought? Yeah, that sounds about right!**


	33. Let Us See Your Vim And Vigor

"Whoa…" was Percy's first reaction to the Hoover Dam. "Annabeth would love this…" he said, recalling that she'd expressed interest in visiting this location. When he thought about it, it made him feel guilty about witnessing it without her, especially when she was suffering and dying…Percy shook his head. " _No, I'm going to save her,"_ he assured himself.

"So…what are we looking for?" Bianca wondered, looking over the right side, where there was a 700-foot face-plant waiting for any unlucky guy to fall.

"Lord Apollo failed to mention," Thalia claimed.

"But it would be wise to restock our supplies," Zoë claimed.

"And grab a bite to eat," Percy added. Instantly upon the mention of food, all of their stomachs growled.

"…As you wish. Onwards, to the dam snack bar," Zoë announced. Percy chuckled. "What?"

"It's nothing, it's just, uh…the dam…snack bar…it's a pun," Percy said, embarrassed.

"Oh that's cute!" Bianca said, putting her hands behind her back. "Percy thinks he's twelve!"

"I do not!" the son of Poseidon claimed, reaching out for Bianca, but she moved further away.

"Oh right, sorry. You just look it!" she continued to tease as she jogged off. Percy ran after her, forcing Zoë to go after them, leaving Thalia to lag behind.

Despite her unwillingness to admit it, the wounds she'd sustained continued to bother her. She couldn't run effectively without stumbling, and her spear arm was sluggish and pained when she used it during the fight against the Talos prototype. She held her bad arm and frustration as she followed her fellow questers. Silently, she wondered why she even bothered to go on this suicide mission. She thought about Percy's words. "T _he gods aren't always right,"_ he'd said.

Soon, the group was seated at a table, munching on sandwiches. The food tasted like heaven in their mouths, after dealing with rations and barely edible crap the past day or two. Percy, for the third time in his demigod life, noticed how shitty everyone looked. Their clothes were torn, grime covered their faces. Even the Hunters' neatly braided hair was loose with strands falling in front of their faces. "We should split into groups," Zoë suggested. "To cover more ground. We should not stay here longer than we have to."

"Agreed," Percy said. "Bianca and I, and you and-"

"No, you have clung to my protégé enough on this quest already," Zoë claimed. "I shall accompany her, and teach her basic tracking methods."

"Do we even know what to track, though?' Bianca wondered. "It is like a magic item that's hidden here for some reason? Do Greeks have magic or is that Harry Potter I'm thinking of?"

"Both," Percy said. Before he could explain, Thalia took over.

"Technically everything involved with demigods could be considered magic; the Mist, Celestial Bronze, and especially your equipment and Lady Artemis' blessing upon you," she explained. "So yes, we should search for anything magical in nature. I will go with the Cruel Spider."

"I have a name," Percy said, having been fed up long ago of her using that title for him. He didn't even particularly like it. The monsters just gave it to him, and it sounded threatening enough…then again, people could take it as "I could squash you" but hey, what can you do? She, of course, ignored him.

"You two could start here at the top, while we search starting from the bottom."

Zoë nodded. "It's a good a plan as any," she agreed, with the two standing first. Percy couldn't help but notice their similarities. That was weird, but then Percy and Bianca also stood up at the same time. Freaky…

The two slipped into a tour group, with their retractable weapons as the ready, just in case. "Any idea what we're looking for?" Percy asked as they rode the elevator.

"I'd imagine it has something to do with the water," Thalia suggested. "We _are_ at a dam, after all."

"Good thinking, but…I can hardly feel the water down here. If you wanted me to check it, we should've stayed up top."

"I know," she said. "But…" she turned away. "I just…couldn't handle it…up there…"

"Because of the heights," Percy said, not really thinking much of it. "Wait…did you just…admit a weakness?" he smirked.

"Don't…" she groaned.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, holding his hands up in defense. "Forgive me for relishing, Ms. Perfect."

"Please stop…"

"Why? This is _literally_ the first time you've admitted you can do wrong at all."

She glared at the boy. "And why do you think I don't do that, Cruel Spider?" she questioned. And with that one question, Percy had nothing to say.

"I, uh…" he realized he had no idea. "Is it…bad?"

Thalia gave him a look like she wasn't sure if she should be angry or confused. "I don't want to talk about it," she said.

Percy had to swallow his pride the continue. "Hey, come on…we need to trust each other. We're…teammates, right?" he hesitated to say friends. Really, Percy only knew her through Annabeth, and he didn't like what he saw at all.

Still, the daughter of Zeus seemed to buy it well enough. "It's just…do you have any idea the pressure _I've_ been put under since I woke up?" she demanded, her voice soft. "The endless hours of training, learning, adapting, _obeying_ ," He had been too busy being jealous of all the things that Chiron had trusted her with and not him. "Do you even know what lies in wait just a few days away when a child of the Big Three finally turns eighteen?"

"What? Eighteen? Why eighteen?" Percy suddenly had a million questions running through his head, not to mention he had completely forgotten that Thalia would be turning eighteen on the 22nd, in two days.

"It doesn't matter," she said, turning away. "I've said too much already."

"But…" Percy hesitated. He wasn't sure he wanted her in an even worse mood. "Alright…if we're gonna find what it is we're supposed to, I think we should split up. We'll each take one side," Percy offered, mostly just so they wouldn't have to deal with each other. Thalia nodded, and listed off to one side of the turbines.

Percy sighed. " _Hey, come on,"_ Riptide said. " _Let's try and focus, Percy."_

"I know, but…why did she have to drop that bombshell and just expect me to forget about it?" he wondered.

" _Well, like she said; she's been put under a lot of pressure_ ," Riptide offered. " _But right now, you've gotta find the magical widget."_

"Right, do you know what is it we're looking for? You magical things don't have like a radar for each other, do you?"

" _Nope. And even if I did, I doubt I'd lead you down here in this stuffy place."_

"Yeah…I guess…probably should've stayed up on top," Percy said, having gotten to the other end. "Not having much luck down here."

"Much luck with what?" a voice came from behind him. Percy jumped and reacted instinctually, whirling around, extending Riptide, and slashing through whoever said it. "Ah!" she screamed as the blade passed harmlessly through her. "What the hell?!" she demanded.

"I, uh…" it took Percy a minute to process what had happened. There was this redhead mortal girl, looking entirely freaked the fuck out, wearing tattered, paint-covered clothes, making her look like a cross between an artist and a hobo. Percy hesitantly tapped Riptide against his foot, making it retract into pen form.

"Whoa!" the girl's eyes lit up. "Did that sword just turn into a pen? How? And how come you cut me in half with it and you didn't kill me? And why do you have a shield on your back?"

"I, uh…"

" _Hey, say something!"_ Riptide urged.

"This…isn't a sword. It's just a baseball bat," Percy claimed.

"No, that was definitely a sword," she insisted. "What are you, an idiot?"

"Uh…"

"I'll take that as a yes," the girl put a hand on her hip. "Listen buddy, I don't know how you got past the metal detector with that thing, but I'll calling security."

"N-no!" Percy grabbed her hand. "I can't let you do that."

She yanked her hand away. "You can't?" she questioned. "Are you threatening assault?"

"No, I'm not, I-"

"Security!" she called. Percy tried to run away, but the girl then grabbed his wrist and got a steel grip on it. Soon, a guard came over.

"What's the problem, miss?"

"This crazy freak brought medieval weaponry into a national monument," the girl claimed. The guard made several suspicious glances from Percy to the girl, before giving Percy a pat down.

"I'm, uh…not sure if this is a joke, but…" the guard was probably very confused.

"No! Don't you see the shield on his back? And his pen can turn into a-"

"Yes, that is a very nice shield emblem on his jacket, but ma'am…" he gave her a stern look. "Please don't waste security's time, if you could," he said before walking away.

Percy sighed. "See?"

"What? Why didn't he…I am _so_ confused!" she scratched her head furiously.

"It's nothing you need to worry about," Percy claimed. "Uh…you."

"Rachel," she girl said as she furrowed her brow. "Rachel Elizabeth Dare."

"So, Red?"

"No!" she snapped. " _Don't_ call me that!"

"I'ma call you Red," he claimed.

"No!"

"Hey, relax, you won't have to deal with it for long, because, uh…" before he could finish, the entire facility rumbled, and alarms started going off.

"What was that?"

"Bye!" he dashed off. Rachel was left with a new crinkle in her normal life.

Percy met Thalia at the elevator. "What the hell is with the shaking?" Percy demanded.

"I don't know," Thalia admitted as they reached the top floor. When the doors opened, they found out exactly what was wrong.

Both Hunters were absolutely swamped by the skeletal warriors, the Spartoi as Luke called them. The two demigods quickly drew their weapons and entered the fray. Percy bashed his shield against a clump of three of them, and Thalia swept the others out of the way so the questers could regroup.

"Thanks, you saved our hides," Bianca said, aiming over Percy's shoulder.

"Any luck finding something?"

"We have come up with nothing," Zoë stated.

"Neither did we," Thalia replied, blocking a strike and kicking the attacker away, as Percy did something similar.

"Which means we have to find whatever it is, _and_ fight off these cursed swordsmen."

Percy noticed Thorn behind the skeletons, and wondered why he wasn't fighting despite the raging hate boner he must have for the questers by now. Instead, though, he whistled, almost like he was calling a horse. He didn't look happy to do it either.

"We need to push forward," Percy said.

"Can you blast them away with the water?" Bianca wondered.

"I wouldn't trust the outcome," Thalia said.

Percy wanted to argue with that, but he just sighed. "Yeah, neither would I…" he muttered. "But, if I can-"

"Don't let the boy get to the water!" Thorn yelled at the Spartoi, who reformed into a wall block the way on one side, that being side where the water was closest. The other way was almost certain death if he tried to get to it, due to the slope and the enemies that he'd have on him and basically everything about that plan was bad.

"Well, my plan's out," Percy said.

"You had a plan?" Bianca questioned. "That's a first."

"Just push through!" Thalia snapped as she charged. She swung her spear into a Spartan which sent it flying to the other side of the road, and clashed weapons with two others.

Zoë was next, leaping over Percy and kicking away two more and drawing away another one as well. That left three plus the one of the other side of the road, and Thorn. "I've got the big guy," Bianca claimed.

"You sure?" Percy asked.

"Positive," she said. For a moment, he could see the same intensity in her eyes as he saw in her brother, but then it went away as she grinned. "I'll be fine!" she assured.

She veered around the Spartoi, who seemed more focused on Percy anyway, and engaged Thorn. Percy then joined the fray, dodging and swiping at the skeletons, but it worked out about as well as last time…so, not at all. They just kept regenerating and getting back up. Percy held up his shield to block a strike, when someone crashed into him, forcing him to parry it instead with his sword.

"Hey, watch it!" he yelled.

"A bit preoccupied!" Thalia yelled back as she stood, her leg wound having opened back up. She struggled to stay firm on her feet. Percy kicked the attacker away, only to have Thalia push him down. "Watch it!" she snapped as she blocked the blow meant for him.

"Stay out of my way!" he snapped right back as he saw the Spartoi herd Zoë back toward them, though Bianca was off doing her thing with the Manticore. "I can handle myself! I don't need you!"

"Can we _focus_?!" Zoë screamed, just before a giant rumble came from the woods outside of the dam. Even the Spartoi stopped momentarily as the trees shook and fell down, with whatever it was that emerged being the one to do it.

"What is that thing?" Percy questioned. Soon, he saw a golden glint, before whatever it was leapt out from the woods and landed on the road.

It was an enormous creature, with sparkling golden fur covering its whole body. It had the body of a lion, but it was about the size of an eighteen-wheeler, with arms as thick as Percy's body. It could easily swallow any one of them whole, and its teeth looked to be made of steel.

"The Nemean Lion…" Thalia stared at it in awe.

"What? I thought Hercules killed it," Percy said as the fighting resumed.

"Ah, worthy prey," Zoë said, suddenly eager. "Come then!" she challenged it. "Let us see your vim and vigor!"

"What the fuck is 'vim'?!" Percy yelled over the chaos as the creature charged toward its challenger, each step forming cracks in the ground. Zoë just barely managed to roll out of the way, shooting arrows at its side as she passed, but they tinked off like she was shooting a rock.

"Oh…" she muttered. "Perhaps this will be more difficult than I first surmised," she noted.

"Whatever vim is, it sucks!" Percy claimed as he pushed back the Spartoi to aid Zoë.

"No! Get back, boy!" she demanded. "This is my-" she was cut off as the Lion charged again, forcing the both of them to avoid its massive claws, continuing on toward the fight. "Bianca! Look out!"

The turned around just in time to avoid its claws by leaping up into the air. She kicked off its snout and bashed its nose with her bow. When she came down, she tried to do the same thing, but this time its jaws were wide open, and caught the bow in its teeth.

As Bianca landed, she tried to wrestle it free, but was forced to let go when it started swiping its claws. Bianca leapt back behind Thalia, who moved forward to shield her, as the Nemean Lion opened its jaws and slammed them down in a giant bite. The force snapped the bow in two. Even Zoë looked shocked by that.

"But…it's five times stronger than Celestial Bronze…" Percy said.

Thalia tried to fight it off, but the Lion was just toying with her. Thalia was lightheaded from blood loss, and sluggish in her movements. She raised her shield just a bit too late, and the beast swatted her away, scrapping its claws on her already wounded arm, and sending her flying into the railing, head first. The girl crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

By now, the Spartoi were regaining their formation, and advancing on the questers. Zoë picked up Thalia on the way, but they were backed up with a 726-foot high face-plant waiting for them over the railing, with Thorn, the Spartoi, and the Nemean Lion all about to pounce on them.

"Guys…it's been fun…" Bianca said.

"I am ashamed to have failed my lady…" Zoë lamented.

"No, don't give up!" Percy snapped, trying to think of a way out of the situation. "We could…we could…"

"Drop it," Zoë snapped. "Face your death with some dignity."

Suddenly, Percy got the absolute stupidest idea he's ever had. "Make sure they don't get to me," he said before pushing them both out of the way.

"What?" Zoë questioned, but he didn't answer. He ran in front of them.

"Come on!" he challenged. "Come and get me!" he ran back, and then jumped. He flew through the air, trusting that he'd make it to the water.

The Nemean Lion charged first, completely ignoring the two Hunters and leaping off after Percy. The Spartoi and Manticore soon did the same. Zoë and Bianca leaned over the railing.

"Is he insane?!" Zoë questioned.

"No! He's a genius!" Bianca said, leaping off after them. Zoë hesitated, but then recalled that this was the same sort of strategy that saved Bianca's life against Talos, and _that_ plan worked. She set Thalia down, and followed everyone else, drawing her bow.

Percy could hardly tell what was going on as he fell, even as time seemed to slow in his descent. He was vaguely aware of the Nemean Lion slowly gaining on him (because it was more aerodynamic?) and of the Spartoi trying to stop him from falling. Bianca was kicking around the Spartoi that she slid next to, with them completely ignoring her as she wasn't their objective anymore, and making them tumble down without being able to get up or do anymore harm. Soon, he saw Zoë do the same, which surprised him. He didn't think she'd go along with any plan of his. The water was going to hit in just a couple of seconds now.

"I will kill you if it's the last thing I do!" Thorn screamed as he shot off of the slope. Percy didn't see any backup, and Thorn was going to slice Percy in two if he got the chance. Percy couldn't use his sword for fear of slowing his fall and letting the Nemean Lion catch up.

Suddenly then, out of nowhere, Bianca swung in and kicked Thorn as hard as she could, sending him flying far into the woods. " _That's_ for trying to hurt me and my little brother!" she called proudly after him.

The Lion's claws were just about at Percy's hair, but the water was just meters away. Just a little farther…

The others didn't see what happened. They just saw the Nemean Lion snap its jaws just as it landed. Somehow (because magic lions) it was able to walk seemingly normally on the water, or maybe that was Percy's doing.

The Spartoi landed on the water as well. Most of them landed, and then just instantly submerged, like they were dragged under. The ones that followed scrambled out of the water and disappeared, probably to find a way up to get Thalia, though that would take them at least an hour on foot.

Suddenly, a massive whirlwind of water shot from the river and in the center of it was Percy. The Nemean Lion charged at him the moment he saw him, but Percy was ready. Somehow, he managed to take head-on every single swipe the Lion took at him in succession, and the Lion was able to claw as fast as Percy could swing a sword. At the end of it all, Percy shot both of his fists down on the surface of the river, sending a shockwave that pushed the Lion back several meters.

"Impossible!" Zoë claimed. "His blade should be shredded to pieces from that!"

Finally, Bianca and Zoë were able to clearly see the action. Percy stood on the surface of the water. In one hand was Riptide, covered in water, giving it a blue-green glow, and in his other hand was seemingly a physical weapon made entirely of water.

"He hardened it until it could take the attacks," Bianca claimed. They didn't even have to question how he took the attacks without shattering his arms. His entire body radiated with power from the river, his eyes were shining bright and fierce. He seemed like an entirely different person. "Is this the power he used to killed Polyphemus?"

"No," Zoë said. "This is much greater than that," she claimed.

"Come on!" Percy challenged the Nemean Lion again. "I am the force that splits the sea!"

The Lion charged once again, the two engaging in a vicious flurry of strikes and parries. Each hit sent shockwaves through both the air and water. "Bianca," Zoë said. "Return to the top and get the daughter of sky. I will aid the boy."

"But…" she looked ready to argue, but she quickly relented. "A-alright, be careful."

For as strong as Percy was in that moment, he'd never felt weaker. With each hit from the Lion, his strength failed him a bit more, and he couldn't even make a dent in its hide, even with his more powerful attacks. Thankfully, that was when Zoë came in to help distract the beast. Percy regained control of the fight, and continued pressing the offensive, trying to find any weak point.

"It's mouth!" Zoë called, as if reading his mind. For all he knew, because of Riptide, she very well might have.

The problem was that the Lion was smart enough not to let Percy get a shot in his mouth. For every time it snapped its jaws, it held its mouth closed, and when it was swiping, it was also closed or ready to snap at whoever tried to get inside. That left him with only one option.

Percy feigned weakness, rearing back after he blocked another swipe head-on. The Lion took its chance, and opened its mouth wide, before snapping them down onto Percy entirely, with at least double the force it used to break Bianca's bow in half.

"No!" Zoë called. Bianca had also been watching on from the top, horror-stricken. The Nemean Lion turned to Zoë, ready to finish the job. Then, the beast's jaw started opening again.

" _Oh gods, this is so gross…"_ Percy thought, feeling the warm moistness of the monster's mouth. It took all of the strength he had, but Percy kept pushing and pushing until he had forced the beast's jaw open. Even then he kept pushing and pushing, and with one final shove he heard a loud snap, and then the Lion went limp. "Shoot it!"

Zoë didn't need to be told twice, shooting arrow upon arrow into the monster's throat until it stopped moving.

By the time the group realized the fight was over, Percy's strength had faded. He was breathing very heavily. The arm holding the weapon of water was numb and sore at the same time. His vision was blotched with black spots. "I'm just…gonna…gonna…" he didn't finish, just fell backwards into the water.

Unfortunately, he didn't get much time to rest, but at least his life wasn't in any particular danger here. He heard a sort of cry. Percy tried to ignore it, but as it went on, he just couldn't take it anymore. He swam toward the sound, soon finding a lost creature. The only way Percy knew how to describe it would be that it was half cow and half snake? Question mark? It was very odd how it was like that, especially as the two animals' bodies merged together with the slimming down at the back…you know what? Never mind.

Anyway, it was stuck underneath some trash, go figure. " _What kind of asshole does this?_ " Percy questioned as he removed the trash from over the creature. " _You have a name?"_

The creature just let out a moo of thanks. Apparently, Percy couldn't speak whatever language this sea animal did. Odd.

" _Alright then I'll give you one? Bessie? No…Tessie? Tess! That sounds good, you seem like a nice girl cow…snake…thing…"_ he thought, assuming it would understand. " _Alright, off you go,"_ he thought as it swam away. Soon, Percy emerged from the water, and swam back to the others. "Jump in!" he called.

"Why?"

"So we can get away from them faster," Percy said. "I can help us stay underwater too, so they can't detect us," he claimed. Reluctantly, everyone leapt into the water. Soon, they grabbed hold of him and they all ducked under, with Percy making sure they could breathe fine, before they all started swimming downstream. Instinctually, Percy also had the water heal their wounds as they swam underwater.

The group didn't hear or even see Thorn emerge from the brush over the river, just barely seeing the group swim away, at least enough to know they were swimming downstream.

"Damn them…" he cursed, beginning to trudge after them. "Those bastards…I'll kill them yet…"

"You won't do anything of the sort," a voice behind the monster made him shake.

"Gah!" Thorn whirled around, only to see no one. For a moment, he started to wonder if he'd imagined the voice. Then, something crept from the shadows, literally. "You…I recognize you…" his apprehension soon turned to delight. "You're the other di Angelo."

Nico looked unimpressed by the monster's now grotesque appearance. His long shaggy hair shrouded his eyes. "Dr. Thorn," the boy acknowledged. "A Manticore all of this time…strange…"

"Do you have any last words before I rip you to shreds, you pathetic little mortal?"

"Yes, I do," the thirteen-year-old boy said, lifting his head to reveal his eyes. They had gone from foggy black to an eerie bone white, almost ghostly. Thorn reared back at the sight of them. "Die, monster. You don't belong in this world."

"T-those eyes…" Thorn muttered, now terrified of the demigod. "They're…of a Hades child, but…he has no-" Thorn was interrupted as Nico held his hand out, and the ground beneath Thorn opened up. "Y…you are _not_ the same child from before! You can't be!"

"No," Nico said, grinning like a Valkyrie. "I am so much more," he said as the ground dragged Thorn under, before closing up again as if it had never been disturbed. With the threat gone, Nico shrouded his eyes again, and collapsed onto his hands and knees. His eyes, under the shroud of his black hair, pulsed with exertion. "Damn…I guess…that's what I get for using these powers so quickly…" he muttered as he stood, his legs shaking until he leaned himself on a tree. "Bianca…I'm going to keep you as safe as I can."

 **Author's Note:**

 **Okay, a lot of things to note on this one! First, dam snack bar is the dumbest thing to make a meme out of, so I mocked it here. Second, the title and Zoë's line is a reference to the vgm Vim and Vigor from Kingdom Hearts II, specifically the PS3/PS4 remasters. Third, yes Nico made a reference to Castlevania: SOTN. Fourth, I always imagined the soundtrack when Percy was falling to be Fist of Desperate Awakening from Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works. Such an epic track for a great moment in the show.**

 **Aside from references in this chapter, I'm currently almost done writing the finale of Titan's Curse, so be hype for that! You have on chapter in-between now ans then though, so stay tuned!**

 **Um...oh yeah! Naming the strange creature Tess instead of Bessie is a reference to something no one will get because it's not published. It's a reference my original novel which I've yet to publish, or rather, an earlier draft of that novel. The reference was mostly for me.**

 **Other than that, don't forget to review!**


	34. To The Hero Of The Great Prophecy

"Ugh…" Percy moaned.

"Stop welching," Zoë ordered.

"But-"

"Percy, you've been complaining for hours," Bianca claimed, though she didn't seem nearly as annoyed with it as the other two were. "Isn't it time to give it a rest?"

"Okay, answer me this," Percy said as they approached a gas station along the highway. "How is it that _I_ get the kill, and yet _I'm_ the one that feels like shit afterwards?" he said, holding his still numb and aching arm.

"Well, you did take a _lot_ of hits…" Bianca mentioned.

"It wasn't from the Lion," Thalia claimed, walking normally again after her wounds healed in the river. "It was from him overexerting his powers."

"Then is there a solution?" Zoë questioned. "I fear we will need that kind of strength again for the trials ahead."

For once, Percy chose to look past his jealousy over Thalia's knowledge. "Is there a way to fix this?" he asked, trying to sound respectful. "This happened once before, but it was worse than this time. I…still haven't fully recovered from that…" he said, recalling his previous failures to manipulate the water. He was honestly surprised he did what he did back at Hoover Dam.

Thalia looked at Percy for a minute, before nodding. "I'll help at camp tonight," she claimed. "For now, we should restock, for another day or two. We left the rest of our stuff at the dam."

"Agreed," Zoë said, the two of them entering the store, leaving Bianca to look after Percy. It was odd; the girl seemed a bit more quiet than usual.

"What's up?" Percy wondered.

"Huh?"

"You seem off. Is something wrong?"

Bianca stared ahead, her foggy black eyes making it hard to read her expression. She took a deep breath. "I think I'm gonna die on this quest."

Percy furrowed his brow. "What? How could you possibly know that?"

" _Friend turned foe a shadow's death become,_ " she recited. "I'm currently shadowing Zoë, aren't I?" she explained, her voice much quieter than normal, much calmer. Percy recalled that this was her version of being freaked the fuck out. "What else could it mean? Honestly, I think I should have died back when we fought Talos. It was a malfunctioning automaton that was meant as the guardian of Crete, a friend turned foe, and I'm a shadow…it would've made sense, and I guess it would've been painless enough, being electrocuted and frying instantaneously…" at that point, Percy couldn't tell if Bianca's calm was from her being afraid or her morbid curiosity. Either way, it freaked Percy out real good.

"You don't know that, Bianca," Percy claimed. "As much as I'd hate to admit it, I'm…basically standing in Thalia's shadow too, ever since she popped out of that stupid tree. Plus Thalia is standing her father's shadow, and Zoë is in Artemis' and so on…it could be any one of us, or it could be someone else or something else entirely."

"…You sure?"

Percy chuckled. "I haven't the faintest idea," he admitted. "But trust me, prophecies aren't things to live by. Just…do your best, keep your chin up, and smile. Always remember to smile, right?" he offered. She took another deep breath.

"…What do _you_ think the prophecy means?" she wondered.

"I tend not to think about it," Percy said. "Honestly, I'm not worried. The only part I care about is the last line," he said. " _Battle lost by stars and moonlight fall."_

"It isn't exactly chipper, is it?" the Hunter agreed.

"No, it is not," he said. "I don't know if it means we're destined to fail, or if it means if we let Artemis die, we fail, but otherwise we're good…or something else entirely. Whatever; it doesn't do any good to prophesize about prophecies. Here, they're coming out."

"Nico did that to me once…I don't think he's told anyone else though," she said off-handedly as the group continued moving.

xxxXXXxxx

The trio travelled the rest of the day, mostly via hitch-hiking. Another half-day's travel, and the group would be as far west as they could go. It had dawned on them early on that going west was a crap-chute in terms of chances, but both Zoë and Bianca insisted that this was the way to go, so they stuck with it.

About Thalia's help; it turns out that applying pressure to a certain point on the back relieved the numbness at least. After a bite of ambrosia and a self-issued massage, Percy's arm was almost as good as new. "It doesn't fix the fact that your powers were weakened by whatever you did last summer," she explained as she settled for bed. "But if you need to fight, just push on that spot and you can move."

"Right…thank you," he forced out the words. Percy thought he saw a slight hint of a smile before she turned over. Percy elected to stay up for watch, and the others readily agreed.

However, he wouldn't be alone for long. It only took about two hours for Zoë to burst awake in a cold sweat. "Nightmare?" Percy guessed. She nodded shakily as she caught her breath. "It's fine…take your time."

"…" the girl brought her knees close to her, and wrapped her arms around them. "…Bianca should have another bow by the morning," she explained, sounding almost robotic as she explained. "My lady's power is tied to the moon, and the stars. The bow will be restored overnight."

Percy looked up. "…No moon," he said curtly. Zoë looked up as well.

"So it seems," she said, almost sounding like Artemis herself as she said it. "We must hurry. My lady is in grave danger, I fear."

"…Well, Thorn _did_ say Olympus would see its darkest night in millennia. I suppose this constitutes," he claimed. "So…you said that if I knew what I was dealing with, that I'd be afraid."

Zoë gave Percy a hard stare. "Yes…I did."

"Well…who is your father? Who are we dealing with?"

"…Atlas," she said the name softly.

"Atlas, as in the Titan Atlas?" Percy inquired. The Hunter nodded. "Whoa…so, do you get powers from him like I get powers from-"

"Even if I did, I would _never_ use them!" she snapped, tensing up as the focus shifted to the Titan. "Suppose I had them; do you believe I'd be able to control them? Just one glance at you, as you just barely harness your abilities in the most dire of circumstances, and you would know that using the powers of a _Titan_ is a very poor choice, a power much older and more fickle than the gods, even the powers of Hades…no, I would _never_ use anything he gave me…"

"You, uh…sound like you have some bad blood," Percy said cautiously.

"…He is sadistic," Zoë claimed, biting her bottom lip like she was holding back her sadness. "You do not know the horrors I have witnessed in his wake."

"Well, uh…I mean…" Percy tried to change the subject. Number one: he didn't want to have this awkward conversation. Number two: the normally steadfast and confident Zoë Nightshade nearly being brought to tears just hurt.

"Do not try and remedy these feelings, boy," she warned. "You will slip up, and I will be forced to shoot you."

"Jeez, um…that's a little uncalled for, don't you think?" Percy questioned.

"I disagree," Zoë claimed. "You are nothing but a small boy playing at the hero. You claim to want to bring peace and happiness to those around you, but all you have caused is misery and turbulence throughout this quest," she accused. Percy didn't even know what to say. When did this become 'beat up on Percy' time? "Or at least…" the fight drained out of Zoë's body. "That is what I _would_ say, if I truly felt that way anymore."

"Um…are you always this disrespectful of guys? Because, if you think about it, it's pretty hypocritical," was Percy's response.

The Hunter shot a glare at him. "Yes, I am," she said. "Is that a problem, boy?"

"Uh, yeah, it is," Percy said. "We're teammates; we're working together for now, and yet you seem to think of me like something you'd scrape off of your boot."

Zoë shrugged. "It is a good rule of thumb, for us Hunters. A man is guilty until proven innocent."

"See, now that's what I-"

"If you would allow me to finish," Zoë interrupted. "Recently, you have…" she hesitated, clearly struggling to get the words out. "Proven…yourself…innocent."

"I…have? How?"

"Must I elaborate?" Zoë grimaced, not wanting to bloat his ego.

"Come on, I need things explained so I can understand," Percy insisted.

Finally, Zoë conceded. "At the museum, you shielded me from harm. For that, I protected you as you slept in the junkyard. I had thought nothing of it."

"Neither did I," Percy agreed as she continued.

"Against Talos, you saved my protégé's life. For that, I owed you much more. Then, at the dam, you stood against the Nemean Lion with unparalleled bravery, saving our lives again."

"I, uh…" Percy scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "It was…no big deal," he claimed, not wanting to take all of the credit. "You're the one that killed it, not me."

"And who made it so that I could slay the beast?" she pointed at Percy. "You are."

"What's your point?"

"My point, boy, is that…I believe I can trust you. At the very least, while on this particular quest."

"Oh…so…we're cool?" she didn't respond, just shrugged. "Well…if we're cool, how about you tell me about my sword?" he pulled it out.

Zoë took it from him, and examined it, soon finding the engraving on the end. "Evermore onward," she read. "A motto?"

"An oath," Percy said. "To my girlfriend. She made me promise something, and that's a reminder," he explained. He expected the maiden to scrunch up her nose in disgust, but she didn't seem to react at all. "Sorry, I know you don't…really like that sort of thing."

"I will say nothing," she said, handing it back. "Except that you should be careful with your promises," she said before taking a deep breath.

"Why?" Percy wondered. The Hunter hesitated, but soon explained.

"I was a Hesperide," she suddenly started explained. "When a particular hero came forth to our garden in search for a golden apple from our tree. I chose to aid that hero in acquiring it, but that was strictly forbidden. I was cast out by my sisters, and erased from history. That hero made a promise to me, that he would wed me and let me live a wondrous life…"

"This can only end well," Percy said. "Did he die?"

Zoë gave him a blank stare. "No…he broke his promise," she said. "At the very first opportunity he had, he…what's the word?" she asked Percy.

"…Is this a question?" he wondered. "Because Artemis did this too, and it wasn't a question and-"

"Yes, it was a question," the Hunter returned, annoyed.

"He dumped you?"

"Yes, he dumped me on an island. After everything I had done for him…" Zoë didn't look sad as much she looked bitter. "The fool…in any case, I was then found by my lady Artemis and I promptly joined the Hunt. It was not a matter of choice, as much as necessity."

"Mm," Percy was listening intently. "He sounds like an asshole."

"Agreed."

"So, is that why you didn't trust me? Why you don't trust guys in general?"

"I suppose…" Zoë said melancholically. "It actually ties into your sword. It was a gift to that hero, right before he abandoned me."

"Who was the hero? Someone famous?"

Zoë nodded. "It was…Heracles," she hesitated to say his name.

"Whoa…so, I'm, like…using Heracles' sword? Awesome!" Percy exclaimed, getting a groan from the two sleeping girls, trying to signal him to talk quieter. Percy saw the dejected expression on Zoë's face. "I-I mean, oh no; how could he be so dastardly?"

The Hunter actually laughed at that. It was short, but it was strangely…sweet? That wasn't a word that fit Zoë normally, but it fit her here. The laughter left as quickly as it had come. "It is fine. It was thousands of years ago. I have since moved on, unlike with my father."

"Well, there are things you can get past and some you can't, I guess," Percy said.

Zoë nodded. "Due to his betrayal, though, I have chosen to adopt my aforementioned method of living. All men are guilty until proven innocent. That included you," she finished her story.

"Eh," Percy shrugged. "I already told you I'm not interested in some ancient matriarchal game-hunting women."

"I did not realize that 'matriarchal' was in your repertoire."

"Annabeth taught it to me; she said it's what she made the Athena cabin after she became counselor," Percy explained.

"It sounds like you care a great deal for her," Zoë said.

"Well, yeah, I-"

"Too much," she claimed. "Grow too much of an attachment to a mortal, and you'll only see them fade with time."

Percy frowned. "Do you have to be such a Debby-downer?" he said, silently cursing himself for using that term. If Bianca was awake, she'd probably call him twelve again. "The only love of your life became a god anyway, so you _should_ be saying that the immortal attachments you can't trust!"

Zoë looked to the fire. "…Perhaps…" she said. Despite what she claimed, the mention of Heracles seemed to put that (night)shade of melancholy in her eyes. "Perhaps I should believe your conviction to that girl is as strong as mine is to my lady Artemis…it might help be sleep, knowing that you would risk it all for her, to complete the quest."

Percy took a deep breath. "…You've got to lighten up," he said.

"I do not understand what you mean."

"You clearly haven't gotten over the hunky Greek hero-god-guy that you fell for thousands of years ago," Percy claimed. "Admit it."

"I would do no such thing," Zoë lowered her eyes in a scowl, silently warning him not to push her too far.

"Fine, don't. But when this is over, you're going to settle this with him if I have to drag you to him."

Zoë tilted her head in confusion. "You…what?"

"You heard me," Percy returned. "When this quest is over, I'm gonna take you to Heracles so you can give him a piece of your mind. Show him that just leaving women on islands has consequences, even for a god!"

It took Zoë a moment to absorb his words. Once she did, she laughed again. Percy crossed his arms as he waited for her to finish. "I am sorry," she said as she wiped a tear from her eye. "I am…not accustomed to such offers."

"It wasn't an offer," Percy claimed. "It was a fact, nothing more," he said, mimicking her.

"All the same," she said. For once, she smiled. "It is an admirable statement, but I am afraid it will go unfulfilled. Heracles is set to being the doorman of the ancient lands in modern times. No demigod or Hunter could ever set foot on that sacred ground."

"…By tradition or by…"

"Those lands are so teeming with monsters, you would likely be torn to pieces within seconds."

"Well fine! Then we'll Iris-Message him!" Percy announced. "But this is _going_ to happen. One way or another, it will. I swear it on the River Styx that Heracles will know how much he hurt you."

Zoë smiled again at that. "…As I said…an admirable offer, and an unbreakable vow, even if you _are_ a boy. Perhaps…you are a friend worth having, Percy Jackson," Zoë claimed. During the talk, she'd relaxed quite a bit, now sitting cross-legged across the fire from Percy.

Percy grinned. "Hey, that's the _first_ time you called me by name!" she exclaimed. "Knew I'd break your shell eventually."

Zoë frowned. "I have no shell, only a principle," she claimed. "Did we not just go over this?"

"Right…sorry…"

"It is alright," she said. "Now, you must be weary. I shall take over watch," she offered, and Percy readily accepted. Soon, he was sound asleep.

xxxXXXxxx

Percy had been waiting to hear the dull roar of the waves yet again. He'd been spending far too long in the middle of the county. He decided that if he ever got old enough to retire, it'd definitely be at a beach house…or maybe he could build a little cabin on the Long Island Sound, so he could stay near Camp Half-Blood.

"Thoughts for later…" he said to himself as he walked along the pier.

The others were also searching for…something along here. This was as far west as they could go, so if this wasn't their destination, they were basically shit out of luck. Thalia made Zoë and Bianca double and triple check their tracking magic stuff, whatever it was, before they made the trek here.

"I promise, the answers will lie here," Zoë said upon arrival.

Percy passed by an older fisherman trying to load crates onto his boat. The man looked middle-aged, wearing Bermuda shorts and a Bahamas shirt. In winter, yes. Percy assumed the man's mind was probably going a bit already. "Here, let me help, sir," he offered.

Percy quickly took the crates of supplies from the man and loaded them for him. "Ah, that's kind of you, young man," the fisherman smiled, crinkles forming around his eyes. It made it look like she tried to smile a lot. "Hm…" he examined Percy. "You look strong, capable…like you've got a purpose. What's your name, son?"

"It's Percy," the demigod said. "And yours?"

"Oh, it's not important. I'm just a humble fisherman. I've got no destiny outside of it."

Percy chuckled. "What I would give to have that life," he said off-handedly.

"You seem a bit down, son," the man claimed. Percy didn't realize, but he _did_ feel a bit melancholy at the thought of a normal life.

"It's nothing," he claimed. "Just…a fleeting dream," he said bitterly.

"A dream of what?"

Percy sighed. "I don't know, just…" he had to be careful not to reveal too much, or risk this guy calling the psych ward on him. "When you live the life I do, where your life is constantly in danger…you start to think…what if I could throw it all away? What if, in another life, everything could've turned out…better…? I guess that's the kind of dream I have…to live safely and happily…maybe…"

"Hm…well, son, it seems to me like you're a bit too wound up fighting for other people. Who are you fighting for, son?"

"I don't know, my girlfriend, mostly," Percy said. "My mom died a few years back, and my dad…I don't want to talk about my dad…"

"Son…" the fisherman goaded.

"…Well, he just never seems to…I mean…" Percy struggled to put his thoughts into words. "I've been doing everything I can to try and get him to notice me, but he just refuses…well, one of these days, I'm gonna do something that he _can't_ ignore," Percy vowed. "It may be years from now, or next week, or today. I don't care when."

"…And what if you aren't ready for that 'something', son?" he asked. Percy had no response to that. "You know, when I look at you, I see a man with incredible potential for good…but who doesn't know when to pick his battles."

"…With all due respect, sir," Percy said, growing more bitter by the second. "I don't think you know what you're talking about."

The man held his hands up in defense, very passively. He obviously meant no harm; he was just trying to help how he could. "Whatever you say, young man."

Percy took a deep breath, regaining himself. "By any chance, sir, you wouldn't have happened to see a blond guy with a scar down his face, would you?"

The fisherman shook his head. "I'm afraid I haven't," he said, seemingly genuinely sad. "Although, a bit down that way," he pointed. Percy noticed that his hands were calloused; he'd clearly been fishing for years. "There is a strange little something you might find interesting."

The fisherman climbed into the boat. "Um…sir, you know it's winter, right?" Percy said. "Won't you be cold out there?"

The man laughed. "Yes, but there's always a time for fishing, if you can take it," he claimed, starting to drift off. Percy started to walk away. "Oh, and son," Percy turned back. "The thing about a dream is that it's a fantasy," he said. "To my mind, what you described wasn't a dream…it was an inevitability. But it's up to you to make it one."

Percy took a deep breath, digesting the words as he watched the man sail off. Then, he tried to return his attention to where the man had pointed. It was his only lead. Indeed, there was a strangely large shadow in the water. It was roughly…cow-sized.

Percy made sure that no one was looking, and then he dove into the water. He quickly saw Tess floating in the water. " _What the hell are you doing here?"_ he asked it. It didn't respond, just made a squealing noise and swam around happily at the sight of him. " _You didn't follow me, did you?"_ it made a noise that Percy took as a 'yes'. " _No, no; that's a_ very _bad idea. You need to leave, right now."_

"Percy!" he heard from above water. When he emerged, he saw a struggle going on. Apparently while he was underwater, monsters had ambushed them. Percy quickly drew Riptide and waded into the fray, finding these monsters to be much simpler to defeat than the Spartoi or the Nemean Lion.

"What the hell were you doing?!" Thalia demanded.

"I was-"

"Do _not_ argue right now!" Zoë stopped them before they began. "You know what happened last time that happened!"

Suddenly, the monsters stopped. The four questers all backed up against one another. "You think…they gave up?" Bianca wondered, though she didn't sound too hopeful on the idea. Right after she said it, a shallow image appeared.

"Hey there!" Luke greeted them through the Iris- Message. "I've been waiting for you guys to get here."

"Luke…" Thalia said his name like it was foreign. "A-are you…you look…"

"Thalia," he acknowledged her, and his was voice oddly gentle. "It's been far too long. You look well. I'll have to apologize for my own appearance, heheh," he chuckled.

"N-no, you-"

"Where are you?" Percy interrupted her. "Tell us where Artemis and Annabeth are!"

"Ooh, so quick to the trigger," Luke said. "But I'm not here to give you information. I'm here to make a deal."

"Oh, I am _so_ sick of hearing this shit!" Percy snapped.

"Not to you, Percy," Luke claimed. "To the true hero of the Great Prophecy."

"What are you talking about?" Zoë demanded.

Luke recited it.

 _A Half-Blood of the eldest gods_

 _Shall reach eighteen against all odds_

 _And see the world in endless sleep_

 _The hero's soul, holy flame shall reap_

 _A single choice shall end their days_

 _Olympus to preserve or raze_

Percy turned to Thalia. " _That's_ what you meant," he claimed.

"Yes, Percy…" her voice was low.

"And…you turned eighteen at midnight tonight…" Bianca claimed.

"…Yes…"

"This is a revelation to all of you, I see. It seems Percy isn't the only one with trust issues," Luke mocked them. "Yes, Thalia has been preparing for today since she awoke. This single choice."

Percy scoffed. "What choice? To join you? As if she'd ever-"

"Wouldn't she?" Luke interrupted. "Maybe we should let her answer for herself!"

All eyes were on Thalia. "Thalia…" Zoë didn't want to push, for fearing of driving her further away. "Consider your options well."

"Thalia," Luke started. "You are the strongest demigod I know. You deserve so much more than this. Since the very beginning, you've been the strongest out of all of us. What have the gods given you, Thalia? What has your father done for you?"

"…Nothing," she answered, her hair shrouding her eyes. "He's done nothing for me…"

"Exactly; all he's done is claim you, which put you and everyone you love in even greater danger! Join me, Thalia, and you'll be safe with Annabeth and me. It can be like it was before, just the three of us: a family."

Percy was suddenly having flashbacks to Luke's first offer to him, and how badly he wanted to just agree and give up this life of battle. He reached for the daughter of Zeus, putting a hand on her shoulder. "No, Thalia," Percy warned. "Annabeth would never-"

"Don't talk to me!" Thalia snapped, pushing him away and electrocuting him for good measure. "You don't have the _right_ to talk to me!"

"Thalia, I-"

"No!" she snapped. "No, no! Shut up! I don't want to hear it! Luke is right! I have no reason to stay here with all of you! I have no one to fight for on this side!"

"Thalia, please!" Bianca pleaded.

"The Hunters fight for Artemis, you fight for Annabeth! Who do I have? My father? He trapped me in a wooden prison for seven years until he _needed_ me!"

It didn't take Percy long at all to come up with a response. "You're here for Luke, right? To try and…get him back?"

The daughter of Zeus was shaking with anger. "No…he won't come back…not until he repays his debt to the Olympians. Well, maybe I should do the same!" her words echoed as everything turned to a standstill.

"Thalia, will you join me?" Luke repeated. She took several deep breaths.

"…Yes, I will," Thalia announced. Thunder rumbled in the sky to the east.

Luke smiled. It wasn't malicious or evil. In fact, it seemed friendly and caring, like he truly had no motive other than wanting to see his friend again. "Good. Then to prove yourself, you will bring the bane of Olympus to me."

"What-" something shot out of the water; Tess wrapped up in a net. Percy had completely forgotten about it.

"The Ophiotaurus," Zoë claimed.

"Where are you?" Thalia asked.

"Mount Orthys, or as mortals know it, Mount Tamalpais," he answered. Thalia looked at the mountain and nodded, wiping away the Iris-Message.

The horde of monsters parted for her. she simply grabbed the net and dragged Tess behind her toward the mountain alone. As soon as she was gone, the monsters resumed their attack on the remaining questers. They quickly took care of them.

"Damn her!" Percy growled. "That bastard just left us here!"

"Percy, calm down," Bianca said. "It's not as bad as it seems."

"Indeed; at least now we know where to go," Zoë agreed. The son of Poseidon took several deep breaths. "We should head out. The more time we waste, the weaker my lady becomes."

"I'd say we've got just a few hours until the 22nd," Bianca said. "That's when Thalia turns eighteen, right?"

"Which means we either need to get her back on the side of the Olympians or we need to kill her before then," Zoë agreed. "Come then, to Mount Orthys."

 **Author's Note:**

 **Say what you will about the pace of this chapter, it's probably my favorite of my adaptation of Titan's Curse. and I'm saying that even after writing the finale which will be posted tomorrow.**

 **Anyhoo, a couple fun facts. That conversation with Zo** **ë in the middle of the chapter was originally going to be before their fight with Talos. However, with the tone of that chapter, I felt the resolution was too happy and closed, so I changed it to here. Also, I still made the ending less happy, with Zo** **ë claiming Percy's offer wouldn't work, where as in the original conversation, she agreed and the two grew even closer than they did in this version. I ultimately decided not to make them too close.**

 **Another fun fact; Thalia was not originally going to turn on the group here. That was a last minute decision made by me and my friend who I discuss this with, my good friend Julian. He's helped me plan this and an inevitable sequel adapting the Heroes of Olympus series, and has given me plenty of great ideas.**

 **Third; that conversation with the random fisherman was also a last minute entry. I always wanted Percy to have a conversation along those lines, but none of the questers seemed like the person to have it with, so I just introduced the fisherman to have it. I've always liked those scenes where random strangers give good advice, and the fisherman's advice about dreams is a variant on the FMA line "The thing about a dream is that it's a fantasy. If it happens, it was never a dream" which is a line I always enjoyed.**

 **Fourth; since this was a big Thalia chapter, at least at the end, I figured now was a good a time as any to share what I'd consider to be her character song. My personal pick is _Again_ by YUI, specifically the full English version by YouTuber geekyfandubs. While the mixing is pretty rudimentary and the translation is like of blunt-force-trauma, I feel like that fits the blunt nature of Thalia's character in this. going into specific lines would make this far too long, but the song as a whole deals with themes of fate and free will, with the singer constantly going on at the beginning about how this (whatever it is) isn't their choice and thus it isn't to be pitied. The second verse and chorus goes into the past and how much they regret having changed and how poorly the world has changed, to the point where the singer would blind themselves. then the third chorus returns to the theme of fate and free will (or lack thereof) and the need to fight against it for the sake of those who have given so much to help you.**

 **While that may seem ironic given this chapter, it'll be more clear later on. Promise.**

 **Also, Nico came out...ha ha...**


	35. Let The Stars Fall Down

Upon reaching the top of the mountain, Thalia tossed forward the Ophiotaurus at Luke's feet. "I brought what you wanted," she stated. Luke smiled.

"Excellent," he said, walking up to her. The man had no idea how to greet her. "It's, uh…it's been a while."

Thalia looked Luke up and down, sizing him up. "…You look like shit," she said as she smiled as well.

"Well," he flexed. "I've still got some strength at least. You look even better in person," he claimed. "Strong, able, determined…you made the right choice," he assured, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm glad that I now have you fighting at my side."

"It wasn't even a decision," Thalia claimed. "They meant nothing to me."

"Even better. Come on, let me show you around," he led her around the small camp that they had set up, showing her where she'd be staying and the general places like the armory and whatnot for the upcoming war. Then they passed Artemis.

The goddess gave Thalia a look of disbelief, and then one of sadness. "Ignore her," Luke said, but Thalia walked closer to her. Soon, even she felt the weight she was carrying.

Thalia knelt down. "Do not dare speak to me, traitor," Artemis spat. "You are less than nothing here; just another cog in the machine of the Titans. Is that what you want?"

Thalia appeared to consider her words. "…Thank you for taking the sky from Annabeth," she said softly as she stood. "You were always the most tolerable Olympian."

She returned to Luke. "Don't tell me you felt sorry for her?"

"Not as a god," the daughter of Zeus claimed. "But didn't you feel sorry for Annabeth when she was under it?" Luke didn't respond to that, just continued showing Thalia around.

"Alright, that about does it."

"Where's Atlas?"

"The _General_ is preparing," Luke made it very clear what the Titan was meant to be called. "For the questers' arrival."

"And when will that be?" she inquired.

"Any moment now," Luke claimed.

He almost expected her to be fazed by this, that she'd have to fight her former allies so quickly after her betrayal, but she just nodded. "Where's Annabeth, in all of this? I never saw her; I expected her to come running to me."

"Oh, she's…" Luke hesitated to say it. "Well…" he led her to a sectioned-off area of the camp, where a sole prisoner was held.

She was lying on her side, facing them. Her eyes were just barely open, but not really focused on anything, just staring ahead in a dead manner. Bruises and cuts lined her body, some of which were still open. Her hands were bound behind her back with some strange rope, almost looking like they were coated with Celestial Bronze. The same went for her ankles. A gag was also tied into her mouth to prevent her from speaking.

"Annabe-" she almost charged in to help her, but Luke held the demigod back.

"Wait," he said. "We can't let her go; she would only try to escape."

"What did you do to her?" Thalia demanded.

"It wasn't my call," Luke asserted. "It was all I could do to convince the General to keep her alive. I said we could use her as a hostage against Percy, but…"

"But what?"

"Well…the General would rather handle things…directly…" Luke claimed. "…He says if the battle is successful, she can go free."

"Luke, I just rejected all of the gods! I didn't do that to be controlled by some brute Titan!"

"Just for now," Luke pleaded. "Trust me; this is the _best_ way to do this."

Thalia took one more look at Annabeth, before nodding. "…You said any minute, right?" she asked. "You should go rally the…monsters…I guess."

"What will you do, then?"

Thalia shot Luke a warning glare. "I'll get our hostage," she claimed. Luke nodded, and left them alone. Thalia kneeled down next to Annabeth, who lazily shifted her gaze to her. When Thalia moved to touch her, just to convince herself that this wasn't a trick, the daughter of Athena flinched, and badly. The girl curled up into a ball and whimpered. "…Annabeth…I'm so sorry…I thought you had died, I…" Thalia knew she couldn't justify her total abandonment of her friend. She took a deep breath. "Soon this will be over, and things can go back to the way they were before," she assured, reaching again, and deftly lifting the girl over her shoulder. Then, she heard commotion outside.

xxxXXXxxx

The trio found surprisingly little opposition on their trek up the mountain. It was as if Luke wanted them to come to him, which he probably did so he could gut them. Or maybe that was Atlas. Either way, it didn't bode well.

Upon reaching the top, they found a relatively level area about the size of a softball diamond, with small areas seemingly designating different priorities. "My lady!" Zoë called upon seeing Artemis holding up the weight of the sky.

"Zoë, no!" Artemis called back, her voice incredibly rough from nonuse and strain. "Leave this place!" Zoë took a step forward, signaling a group of at least two dozen monsters to form a barrier between them and Artemis. "This will only end in disaster!"

"We can't abandon you!" Bianca agreed, drawing her new bow. Percy and Zoë similarly drew their weapons. "We've come too far to give up!"

"You'll be slaughtered!" Artemis claimed. "Leave!"

"I agree," Luke said, emerging from the horde of monsters. "I'm not in the mood for games, Percy. You have one chance; leave now, or die. Though, I'd prefer to not fight you again."

"Well, then prepare to be disappointed," Percy said, pointing his sword at the older demigod. "Now, where is Annabeth?"

Luke chuckled. "I shouldn't be surprised. Here you are on the edge of the gods' domain, where the stars meet the Earth…and all you ask about it Annabeth?"

"I would let the stars fall down if it meant getting her back. Now, where is she?!" he demanded, more forcefully this time. Luke stared at Percy for a moment, though whether it was in analysis or bewilderment, Percy didn't know. He snapped his fingers, and Thalia emerged, carrying Annabeth on her shoulder.

She dropped the daughter of Athena, who rolled to face the questers. She looked even more beaten up than in his dream. The sight of her filled Percy with a burning anger, one even greater than when he saw Tyson murdered. Upon seeing Percy, Annabeth jolted awake. Her eyes turned wide and pained, trying desperately to convey one word: run!

Percy stepped forward, appearing to challenge each and every opponent there. He was stopped, however, by a cold laughter. It was the one from the museum. "Atlas…" Percy muttered his name as he emerged from behind the group of monsters and rogue demigods. Finally, Percy saw his face. It was cracked like a mountainside, and hollow, like an underground cavern. Even Thalia seemed disturbed by his appearance.

"Very good, little hero," the Titan said, clapping two of his four hands. "But unfortunately, this little excursion of yours has gone on for a bit too long. I believe it is time to end this."

"Do _not_ listen to him!" Artemis yelled from behind the Titan. "He is only trying to break your spirit!"

Percy backed up to his allies. "Relax guys; we've gotten out of worse than this," he claimed.

"Have you?" Atlas wondered. "You face impossible odds. I have an army climbing up this mountain to greet me as we speak; this is just the beginning. And yet, you have only two able bodies," he said, gesturing as if beckoning them forward.

"T-two…?" Bianca was hesitant to ask, and she regretted it as soon as she did. Zoë walked forward.

"No…Zoë, you promised!" Percy called after her. She didn't stop until she was at her father's side, when she turned around. Her normally stalwart brown eyes were glazed over and dead. "You…you're controlling her! Against her will!"

"Au contraire," Atlas said, putting a rough hand on his daughter's shoulder. "She has no will of her own; she shares my will. I am simply using it to my advantage."

"Okay…okay, things are looking a bit dicey," Bianca said. "But hey, we're gonna be fine. Just, uh…"

"I don't think fighting it out is an option," Percy said, the two standing back-to-back against an encroaching group of monsters.

Thalia watched on, feeling nothing from this. She felt as if she _should_ be feeling something, anything, to see them die, but she didn't. Nothing they had done had made her care remotely about them at all. In fact, she was almost glad to see Percy go.

She felt something brush against her leg, and when she looked, she saw Annabeth trying in vain to sit up. She, unlike Thalia, looked on in such horror that it was heartbreaking. It was like Thalia was denying her the Sirens Song, the pull was so powerful. Eventually, Thalia just couldn't take it.

" _I know I'm going to regret this…"_ she thought as she grabbed the Regalia and extended it. She then held the speartip at Luke's neck. "Stop!" she called. The monsters ceased their advance, right as they were about to engage the demigods. "Or he dies!"

"What are you doing?!" Luke demanded.

"Shut up," Thalia ordered, pushing the tip a bit further. He quickly obeyed. "You're going to let _everyone_ here go free, or he dies!"

Atlas chuckled. "Now, Thalia Grace, let us not do anything rash," he said it so casually.

"No! I'm serious!" she claimed. Atlas turned Zoë on her. That was when the fighting started.

Zoë shot at Thalia, forcing her to retract her spear to parry the arrow, allowing Luke to draw his Backbiter, and engage her properly. Thalia also drew the monsters away by attacking Luke, and then was able to hold them off and destroy them with her Aegis, leaving her alone with Luke.

Percy saw his chance. He charged forward. "Percy, no!" Bianca called, but he was already set.

"You're _mine,_ Atlas!" Percy yelled, inwardly questioning why he didn't just grab Annabeth and run. That was what he should've done. Instead, he ran up to the Titan of willpower and endurance. Atlas seemed amused by the challenge, and took a step forward. That was all he had to do.

In that one moment, the world faded away. Percy froze, about three meters from the Titan. That one step was all it took to convey to the son of Poseidon the gravity of his power, especially compared to Percy's own. The sounds of battle faded, and Percy was left with just him and Atlas; this unstoppable force of pure strength. No…Atlas would be more like the immovable object in this case, and Percy's force was limited. Before Percy's eyes, the Titan grew bigger and bigger and bigger until Percy was but a fraction of his size.

How was he supposed to win this? How was he even supposed to fight? Percy couldn't answer either of these questions.

Atlas raised a fist, with each movement having enough force to crush a mountain, and then slammed it down onto Percy. Even though the Titan growing in size was either in Percy's head or he had just shrunk back down to fight, Atlas was back to being a fifteen-foot-tall giant, instead of a like hundred-meter-tall behemoth.

The force of the blow didn't change. Percy, in his shock and anguish at having challenged the Titan, just barely managed to raise his shield. The impact was enough to blast Percy's legs from under him, and create a crater at least three meters in diameter. Immediately, Percy's arm went numb, but before he could recover, another equally powerful blow rained down onto the demigod, and then another, and then another. With each hit, Percy grew weaker and more disoriented. Soon, he could barely tell where the hits were coming from.

" _Just run and grab Annabeth!_ " he screamed in his head, but even if his body would respond to that command, his was trapped under an endless storm of pain and suffering that was Atlas' attacks.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Zoë move to where his shield wasn't protecting him and aim a shot. He also saw her hesitate to fire it, which probably saved his life and also proved that she could fight back in very minute ways. She shot the arrow, but right before it hit, a hand shot in the way.

Bianca had leapt into action, and shielded Percy just as he had shielded her against Thorn's spikes back at Westover, with an outstretched hand that refused to give in. Soon, Bianca and Zoë were locked in an intense battle of their own.

Eventually, Atlas grew bored of his stationary target, and knocked him away and into a large boulder, which shattered upon impact. Percy shakily stood, barely able to raise his shield at all anymore. It was so filled with dents and was on the verge of shattering anyway. " _I'm sorry, Tyson,"_ he thought as he shed the shield. It hit the ground with a resounding thud. Atlas walked toward Percy again.

"Tell me, Cruel Spider," he said. "Is this the power I have heard so much about?"

Percy shook with fear and rage. He saw Annabeth weakly struggling next to Artemis, trying to get out of her bonds, but she was far too injured to even attempt it. He could just grab her and dash down the mountain. That was _all_ he came here for!

Instead, though, he charged Atlas once again, taking pathetic swings at him. " _Why am I doing this?!_ " he demanded in his head. " _I have nothing to prove! I don't need to beat this thing; I just need to get Annabeth to safety! She's all that matters anymore!"_ he yelled in his head. Atlas reared back his hands, and Percy dove out of the way of another slam, but then the Titan swatted him away, just like last time. This time, though, he landed in water. It must've been the pool Luke used to send the Iris- Message. In any case, it was enough.

The pool exploded around Percy. In one arm, he enhanced Riptide, and in the other he formed another weapon of equal caliber. His entire body was glowing a sea-green color, but his eyes most of all, with more rage and conviction than could even be compared to when he confronted the strongest Cyclops.

"For Poseidon!" Percy yelled, almost unconsciously. He charged at Atlas and rained down a horde of vicious attacks onto him, but every one of them of blocked or dodged like it was child's play. " _Oh…oh…is that…? It was all…for him?"_ Atlas laid down another crushing blow, but this time Percy took it, only at the cost of his water weapon, but he recovered quickly enough with a more familiar style of one-handed swordplay, deftly striking at Atlas' weakest spots defensively. " _I can do this!"_ Percy told himself. " _A Titan? What the fuck ever! This is the strength I used to beat Polyphemus! This is the strength I used to fight the Nemean Lion single-handedly!"_ Percy was knocked away again. "I can do this!" he yelled, dashing forward and leaping high into the air for a massive attack on Atlas. "I am the force that splits the s-" Percy was stopped as a hand shot out and gripped around his throat.

Artemis looked on. "…He never stood a chance…" she claimed.

Percy struggled against the Titan's grip, letting out choked gargles. He raised his blade to try and free himself, but another of Atlas' arms grabbed it. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, little hero," Atlas chided as the arm squeezed. Percy heard, and more importantly felt, the bones shatter in his wrist and forearm, making him drop Riptide. "Is this truly how far you have come? I had honestly expected more from the dreaded _Cruel Spider_ …" he lamented. "Oh well…" Atlas reared back a fist and punched the demigod in the chest. Percy could swear he felt his heart beat against his ribcage. He coughed up blood from that hit. "Oh, apologizes. I had forgotten how fragile your kind was," he started squeezing around Percy's throat. "Please, allow me another-"

He was interrupted as Zoë sent a flying kick into Atlas's back, knocking him off balance and making him drop Percy. The demigod landed on his hands and knees, before he completely crumpled to the ground. He had never been in more pain than he was right then.

"Damned girl," Atlas shot her a glare. "Just be obedient!" he ordered, the force of the words causing her to resume her battle with Bianca. Atlas then returned his attention to Percy, and knocked him away again.

Percy was just barely aware of his surroundings. He was knocked toward where Artemis and Annabeth were. Percy shakily stood. "H-help me…" he begged the goddess.

"I cannot, boy," she said, her voice equally pained. "Unless one could take this weight from my shoulders, but I could not allow you to-"

"Move," he ordered, slowly moving toward her.

"Are you daft? You will _not_ take this! It is too much for you."

"So is Atlas!" Percy cried, his eyes wild with fear. "Now give me the sky!"

Artemis' eyes were wide; she never expected that kind of terror from Percy, except in response to her threats. Soon, she accepted the help, as Percy shifted under the weight of the sky. It was much heavier than he was expecting, and he was expecting to be lifting up a skyscraper already. Percy's knees immediately buckled underneath him.

While Percy's thought process could have been interpreted as seeing Artemis having a better chance against Atlas than him, he doubted the goddess could handle him either. Deity or no, she barely looked able to stand.

Still, she did, and faced toward the approaching Titan of willpower.

xxxXXXxxx

During this time, Bianca and Zoë were letting loose a barrage of arrows at each other. The younger Hunter was just barely keeping up from her natural talent, but it wasn't going too well anyway. She kept getting nicked by arrows or kicked away. Even as Zoë was trying to hold back, she had the upper hand. "Please…" Zoë begged. "Kill me…"

"I-I don't know if I can…" Bianca returned, avoiding another arrow and trying to close the distance. "Or if I want to…just try and-"

"I c-can't…fight this…" Zoë said, tears streaming down her cheeks, the two girls locking bows. "And I… _can't_ fight my lady…please…"

It was in seeing Zoë anguished face that Bianca agreed in her head to earnestly try and heed her request. The two separated, and resumed their duel, with Bianca working double time to try and keep up.

xxxXXXxxx

Artemis' battle with Atlas was almost as one-sided as Percy's was. The goddess was sluggish in her movements, and her hits were like love taps to the Titan. Thankfully, he wasn't getting any hits off either, but just one was probably all he'd need to win. "You cannot win, little goddess," Atlas chided. "You must know that."

"I will do what I must!" Artemis snapped back.

"Soon enough, your newest Hunter will be dead, and your oldest will then turn on you. I wonder, is a part of your blessing the ability to hunt gods? Or shall I have to end you myself?"

"You are a monster!"

"I know," Atlas grinned sadistically, as he flexed. Suddenly, his movements became swifter. He just narrowly missed Artemis' head with a fist, but tripped her up with another. She just barely rolled out of the way of a slam, but then he gripped around her ankle, and lifted her into the air. She tried to free herself by swinging around and hitting him, but he moved out of the way like it was nothing, before slamming her like a toy into the ground, forming a crater. He did it over and over again until ichor had lined the ground and covered her face. By that point, the whiplash from Atlas' swinging had snapped her ankle in two. Atlas threw her away as she tried desperately to stand. Her form flickered, but she managed to retain control. "Oh no, go ahead. Release your Divine Form. I am curious to see if I can take it," he goaded. "But be careful; should you release it, it's likely everyone here would perish in its wake."

"I would rather die," she spat.

"If you insist, maiden goddess," Atlas took the offensive, with him quickly gaining the advantage. Artemis attempted to fight back, but it only resulted in her getting both of her arms caught, followed by both of her legs. Atlas lifted her into the air. "I cannot say it hasn't been enjoyable. It is not often one has the chance to destroy a full-fledged Olympian, but…" Atlas slammed Artemis down onto his knee and then some. The cracks of her spine shattering were heard almost as loudly as her cries of pain. "I find that there are more worthy opponents to be found," he said coldly as he dropped her body, which was now unmoving.

Percy watched on, immediately regretting his decision to take the sky. Not because it was too much for him (which it was) but because he couldn't bear to watch the goddess be brutalized any further. Sure, if she was still under, it would likely be Percy that would be broken by now, but Percy was going to die anyway, eventually. Artemis would've been immortal.

Percy turned away, unable to watch the horror anymore, but his gaze drifted to Annabeth. She couldn't free herself from her bonds, only watch the horror, but it seemed she couldn't either. She sat on her knees, giving Percy the saddest look that he'd ever have to bear. Annabeth was completely helpless, for the first and only time in her entire life. She needed Percy in this moment, to be a pillar of strength even as he was feeling as helpless as her.

Percy focused all of his remaining strength and moved one foot under him, pushing up. His legs burned like they were drenched in lava, but he kept pushing, until he was standing. His legs wobbled, threatening to buckle again at any second. But that was when the ground started shaking.

xxxXXXxxx

Bianca's battle went poorly. She crossed paths with Thalia, who was dueling Luke, and she seemed to be doing fine. You know, save for the massive emotional downpour she was going through at the prospect of having to kill her best friend/potential lover. But you know, other than that.

Anyway, Zoë's skills far outmatched Bianca's. The girl dodged everything Bianca had to throw at her, and even shot back, with twice the ferocity.

Bianca narrowly avoided Zoë's next barrage, but then the elder Hunter socked Bianca in the gut, and then kicked her wound in her wrist, making her drop the arrow she had notched. Bianca managed to get away, just as Zoë let loose another wave. The di Angelo leapt up over the arrows, and shot off an arrow of her own, but saw Zoë shooting another, right at her while she was in the air, when she could do nothing to dodge. Time slowed down for Bianca as she landed, the arrow just a meter away from her chest, which would pierce her heart in just a fraction of a second. " _Well…it's been fun,"_ she said, not thinking much _._ It wasn't as if she'd really accomplished anything with her life. Then suddenly, a shadow appeared in front of her.

The shadow, within the span of time needed for the arrow to come, rose from the ground, formed into the shape of a person, and melted away to reveal that person, who took the arrow for Bianca, straight in the heart. "Y-you…" Bianca couldn't even mutter his name, her mind was far too full with questions and denials. "You're supposed to be at camp…"

Nico di Angelo turned to face his sister, revealing his ghostly white eyes. He chuckled. "Looks like…I'm still looking after you…sis…" he said, before crumpling to the ground.

"N-no!" Bianca caught him as he fell, ripping the arrow out of his chest and holding the wound, even as she knew that it would do nothing. "You c-can't die! You can't! You aren't supposed to be here!"

The light was quickly fading from his eyes, so to speak. "Just…smile…sis…" he let out a last breath, and then Nico was still. Dead.

Bianca felt a strange kind of void. She'd never felt it before, but it filled her with an overwhelming sadness. Zoë notched another arrow, ready to fire, but she hesitated.

"He's…dead…"

Bianca became slowly surrounded by a black energy, completely overtaking her silver glow, like the shadows were spiraling around her. Her face was hidden, with only her eyes showing, having transformed from their foggy black to bone white in an instant. Bianca stood, and dropped her bow and arrows. He flexed her fingers, and the ground began to rumble, before it started cracking around her.

"Oh shit…" Percy mumbled as he saw what was happening.

"I…feel it slipping…" she muttered, locking her eyes onto Zoë. "His soul…fading away…"

Suddenly, a hand shot from the ground beneath the elder Hunter and grabbed her ankle, before dragging her to the ground. She then had the hand shoot from the ground, taking Zoë with it, before slamming back down.

"Bianca, no!" Percy yelled from underneath the sky, having dropped back down to one knee as the ground started shaking. "She's not responsible! It was Atlas!"

Bianca's attention snapped to the Titan. "You…you took…my brother…" he muttered.

"Perhaps I did," Atlas was still so smug. "And what of it?"

"I'll _never_ let you do that again!" Bianca's latent power exploded, sending an earthquake across the battlefield, lifting and crashing together chunks of stone, sending Artemis sliding away. Percy struggled to stay under the sky, but Annabeth wasn't so lucky, being flung across the mountaintop towards where Thalia and Luke had to halt their confrontation.

Even Atlas seemed off balance, which wasn't helped by stones and the hands of the dead pounding him left and right. The assault was actually just enough to break his grip on Zoë, his attention not being paid to her anymore.

The Hunter shook her head, and quickly examined the surroundings over the chaos. Thalia had Luke against the edge of the arena, Annabeth was near them, Bianca was single-handedly holding of Atlas, though not necessarily damaging him, Percy was holding up the sky behind them, and Artemis was…

Zoë rage exploded when she saw her mistress' unmoving body off to the side of the main battle. She charged at Atlas. In just one miracle shot, right at the perfect moment when Bianca got him to almost tip over, Zoë hit him with everything her Titan blood and godly blessing could give her, sending him tumbling toward Percy, knocking him out from under the sky and putting the Titan back where he belonged.

"W-what?!" Atlas roared, his voice as loud as the earthquake Bianca caused. "No! Impossible!"

"My lady!" Zoë attention was no longer on the Titan, as she rushed to Artemis' side. The goddess was still alive, barely, but her life force was fading.

"Lieutenant…" the goddess forced out. "You…should not have come…hurry, you must leave before-"

"My lady!" Zoë exclaimed again, overjoyed to see her. "We must return you to your domain, so you may heal!"

"No, my child," Artemis returned. "You must leave. I fear…there is a great force approaching…you would not stand a chance…"

"But…my lady…" Zoë didn't quite understand in her relief.

Bianca's own rage soon subsided, seeing the threat gone, as she knelt down and sobbed over the corpse of her little brother. The transformation she underwent in that split second lasted through, though. Her skin had lightened by quite a few shades, dark circles appeared under her eyes, and her irises were still that sick ivory white.

Thalia took advantage of Luke's indecision in the last stretch of their duel, pressing him toward the edge. "You're a fool, Grace!" Luke growled. "We could've been happy! We could've-"

"I don't want to hear it!" Thalia snapped, tears cascading down her face as she landed a final blow, knocking Luke over the side. She just barely saw him fall onto some jagged rocks. The daughter of Zeus had to take several shaky breaths before she could even try to concentrate. She saw Annabeth desperately try and get free. "H-here, here…" she raised the Regalia and tried to cut through the bonds, but they held tight. Either they were made out of full celestial Bronze, or the coating was super thick. Either way, Thalia couldn't break it with her spear.

Percy saw this, just barely, and wanted to so badly to help. He recalled the daughter of Athena's words of comfort. "I can start small…" he muttered, feeling a gentle tug at his gut. He slowly lifted the water from the pool and moved it over to Annabeth, formed it into a sharp edge, and cut her bonds, both on her ankles and wrists. It took all of Percy's concentration to do so.

Thalia held her arms out to embrace Annabeth, fully expecting it, but the girl pushed past her as she ripped the gag out of her mouth, and stumbled over to Percy, collapsing onto her knees when she made it to him, and wrapping her arms tightly around him.

Her breathing was shaky and strained, like it took all of her strength to make to him. "I missed you, Seaweed Brain…" she said, her voice filled with relief.

"I missed you too, Brighteyes…" he said, returning the embrace. The two didn't move for a long time, each burying their face in the other's warmth.

Thalia watched them, stunned that Annabeth would run to him instead of her. She recalled her own words. " _She never liked you. She never even cared about you,"_ She was now forced to confront the fact that she'd been wrong all of this time. Thalia started to wonder if perhaps it was her that needed to reconsider her place in the grander tale being told, not just this particular quest. It would be a first.

The reunion was short-lived, however, as the roar of an army of monsters pounding up the mountain interrupted them. Even without their precious General, they would have demigod blood yet. At the most, they had a few seconds.

"Look away," Artemis ordered from her motionless state.

"My lady!" Zoë was just so relieved to hear her speak. "We must get you to safety!"

"No!" Artemis snapped, coughing up ichor. "You will not risk your life for mine...any longer."

"B-but…my lady…" Zoë eyes started to get misty.

"Avert your eyes, lieutenant, and all of the others as well."

"B-but…if you do this…you will surely perish!"

"I would perish in any case!" Artemis claimed as the monsters pounded up to face the battered and broken demigods. Each of them looked away, just before shining silver light exploded from Artemis' body. The light was intense enough to completely incinerate the immediate wave of monsters. In addition, from the sky above, it appeared that Artemis' Divine Form gave the stars power as well or at least brought them back to life. One by one, the constellations dropped from the sky and charged down through the army of monsters, eradicating any who would dare attack the questers. The force of it was so great that it even incapacitated Atlas.

Then, just as soon as it came, the light disappeared. Everyone opened their eyes, to see Artemis' body slowly fading away, shards of light drifting off her body. "M-my lady Artemis!" Zoë cried. "Why did you…I don't…"

The goddess was smiling. "It is…alright…my child," she breathed out, barely able to speak anymore. "As long…as you…and the others…are safe…"

"No…we were not the ones to save!" Zoë exclaimed, tears running down her face. It was thousands of years of attachment all flowing out of her. "We came all of this way for you! What am I to tell your Hunters? How could I face them? Please, tell me, my lady! I cannot lose you!"

"You are to tell them…that you shall take my place…"

"W-what…?"

"Assume my position…that is my final request…I can only entrust it to you…"

"B-but…my lady…"

"Be the light that shines for those wandering in darkness," Artemis pleaded, as she began to disappear, starting at her feet. Her form faded in a wisp of wind, which entered Zoë's mouth like mist.

Those were Artemis' final words.

Zoë went into a state of shock, unable to form complete sentences in her depression. Percy and Annabeth struggled to their feet and made their way over to Bianca, who was in a similar state of grief over her brother. Percy wanted to say something, anything to comfort her, but he was too ashamed at his role in what transpired.

He froze when he confronted Atlas. He couldn't move in the face of that overwhelming power. He'd been beaten handily, and let Artemis die because of it…he felt as if he didn't deserve to have Annabeth back in his arms. Not by a long shot.

Moments after Artemis faded, her chariot came out of the sky to pick them up. It was an actual chariot, unlike Apollo's, and it fit everyone, even Nico's corpse. Everybody steered clear of it.

"Where are we going?" Thalia wondered.

"Do not speak, traitor," Zoë ordered, her voice icy cold; one wrong move and Thalia's adventuring days would be over. Thalia didn't argue. "We are going to Olympus, to relay my lady's the message to the other gods."

No one argued with that. It _was_ still the winter solstice, for about another hour at least. They should still be there.

They made it to Olympus in about three minutes, and then made their way to the throne room. "I think I'm going to wait out here," Percy said.

"Why?" Thalia questioned. "We need-" she shut up when Zoë glared at her.

"The gods will want testimony from all of us," Zoë claimed, her voice the most dour of all the questers. "You need to come."

"I…can't…" Percy persisted, averting his gaze from theirs. "I just…"

Annabeth took her hand in his. "Percy," she said his name softly and intimately, even if it was hoarse as hell. "It'll be alright," she assured.

"Just…don't leave my side again," he requested. She nodded, and then the group entered.

The gods sat on their thrones expectantly. Percy noticed something different from last time; there were only eleven thrones, when before there was twelve. The twelfth throne was now just a pile of rubble, composed of what was once Artemis' personal throne. The sight made a wave of sadness and guilt wash over the questers.

Hades, who was the only one standing as he didn't have a throne, was the first to notice them. He zeroed in on Bianca. "Oh hey, kid. It's about time you opened up your dark side," The girl flinched, still carrying Nico's body. "Oh here, let me take of that…" he snapped his fingers, and the corpse disappeared. Bianca barely responded, but she squeezed where she would've held his shoulder and arm, only to feel air. It was a sad sight, but Hades didn't really see much meaning in it.

"What is the meaning of this?" Zeus demanded, standing from his throne. Percy wasn't sure whether he was referring to mortals intruding upon their meeting, or Artemis' throne being destroyed, or something else entirely. "Why have you entered the hall of the gods?"

"Lord Zeus," Zoë's voice was surprisingly strong, despite the events that had passed. "We were sent on a quest to free my lady Artemis and quell the Titan's advance to war. We were led to Mount Orthys, palace of the Titans, where we did battle against their forces. Unfortunately," she turned away. "We were only able to accomplish one of our goals."

"Where is my sister?" Apollo demanded, looking deadly serious; a far cry from his usual demeanor. "What happened to her?"

"She…" Zoë's voice caught in her throat. "S-she…"

Thalia stepped forward. "Lady Artemis was used to lure us there. The Titans aimed to use me to destroy Olympus, with the power of the Ophiotaurus, which Percy had freed at the Hoover Dam," she explained. With a wave of his hand, Poseidon summoned the creature. "I…accepted those terms…"

Nervous glances were exchanged upon the Olympians. Athena was the first to respond. "Then why have you shown your face here? What is to stop us from vaporizing you right now?"

"Mother!" Annabeth cried, but her point had already been made.

Calls of agreement erupted from the Olympians. "W-wait!" Percy called, getting the attention of everyone, especially Thalia. "She doesn't deserve to be vaporized. The only reason she accepted the Titans' offer was to give us the location of Mount Orthys. Once the fighting started, she did nothing but help us. She was playing them, nothing more," Percy lied. "If anyone deserves to be killed, it's me."

"Percy, no!" Annabeth pleaded, but Percy continued.

"I'm the one who sentenced Artemis to death. I forced her to confront the Titan Atlas by taking the sky from her. She had already been captured by him, and I sent her off, beaten and exhausted, to her death. It's my fault."

"No, it is mine!" Zoë claimed. "Atlas forcibly controlled me during the fighting. I should have known that that would happen. If I were not fighting for the Titans, Percy would not have fought Atlas alone and been forced to retreat. The blame is mine!"

"No, it's mine!" Percy argued.

"Enough!" Zeus roared, lightning crackling around the room. "The blame is no one's! All we can do now is prepare for the coming war. While you demigods may have delayed it, war _is_ coming," The questers were silent. "Now then, is there anything else?"

They all hesitated. "My lady Artemis…asked me something…" Zoë said cautiously. "She asked me…to take her place…as the goddess of the moon, and of the hunt."

Shock wove through the Olympians. "That…is unheard of. A god being replaced," Athena claimed. "It might not even be possible."

As the goddess of wisdom spoke, mist seeped from Zoë mouth, a silver wisp. Soon, the mist took form, and Artemis was there, though only as an image. "It is possible," the goddess' soul spoke, sending another shock through the gods. "I ask only that you give her your blessing."

"The girl is a daughter of Atlas, your killer!" Apollo argued. "Sister, please reconsider."

"I have neither the time nor the need for such an action," Artemis assured. The gods exchanged glances, and then, in unison, made a symbol over their hearts, and then pushed toward Zoë. "Zoë Nightshade. Do you accept my offer?"

"I…I do, my lady…" a fresh wave of tears rolled down. As she said it, a silver column of light formed around Zoë. When it faded, her eyes had changed. Now, her irises were half brown and half silver, with the silver forming crescents in her dark eyes, like the moon in the night sky. Before their eyes, Artemis' throne was reformed, almost blurred back together.

" _Gah!"_ Riptide's presence in Percy's head suddenly returned. " _W-where am I? Where are we? What the hell happened while I was out?"_

" _I'll fill you in later,"_ Percy promised.

"If that is all, then this leaves only one thing," Zeus claimed. "The Great Prophecy."

" _A Half-Blood of the eldest gods, shall reach eighteen against all odds,"_ Aphrodite recalled.

"My daughter," Zeus said.

Thalia took a deep breath. "Before you say anything," she started. "I have a request."

"…Go ahead."

The Olympians expected her to turn to her father, but she instead turned to Zoë. "You are in need of a lieutenant. I volunteer myself."

"What?" Zoë looked appalled by the idea. "Why would I agree to that?" she questioned. "After what you did?"

"Thalia," Annabeth looked equally surprised. "You…you'll never turn eighteen if this happens."

"I know," Thalia said, before addressing the gods. "I refuse to be the hero of the Great Prophecy," she announced. "You know what happened when I was offered the chance to side with the Titans. Despite what the Cruel Spider claims, I agreed to it in earnest."

"One does not simply refuse to play their part in a prophecy," Zeus claimed, looking less surprised as he did angry.

"Someone once said that the gods are not always right. I didn't believe them, until I began questioning my own loyalties. To me, and I believe to you, this choice is the lesser of two evils. Because if I were to make my choice in this moment, Olympus would fall."

"My daughter! Why?"

She didn't answer. "Thus, the prophecy falls to Percy," Thalia announced. "And if he should die, then to Bianca, daughter of Hades."

"Wait what?" Percy questioned. "Are you kidding me?! I just utterly _failed_ against a Titan, and you're expecting me to face their King now?"

"The prophecy never says anything about fighting anyone. It simply says you must make a choice. That choice could be the choice to fight or to run. At this point, it is unknown."

"I call for a vote!" Athena called. "To obliterate all three of them. That would eliminate any threat to Olympus there could be."

"Mother!" Annabeth repeated.

"Quiet, child!" the goddess of wisdom snapped.

"Wait!" Zoë pleaded. "We don't need to obliterate them! We just…"

"What would you have us do?" Athena questioned. "This is the entirety of Olympus in exchange for a few demigods."

"Or both could be spared."

"And you would have us take that risk?"

"I would," Zoë claimed, trying to look stronger and more confident than she felt. "Demigods risk their lives for their parents. They risk their lives every day, for entities that have nothing to do with them. I believe it is past time for the gods to be the ones taking the risks. For all of our power, all of our divine interventions, can we not make a simple choice of faith in one who has godly blood coursing through their veins?"

The Olympians once again exchanged nervous glances. "All those in favor of destroying the children?" hands shots up, including Athena, Dionysus, and Ares. "All opposed?" more hands, including Aphrodite, Zoë and…Poseidon?

Percy was shocked to see Poseidon raise his hand to oppose. He expected him to be the first on the agreed side, if for nothing else than to waste Percy, but no.

"The vote is seven to five, in favor of sparing the demigods," Zeus announced.

Thalia turned back to Zoë. "Then the final decision rests with you. Will you accept me as your lieutenant? Or would you trust me to decide Olympus' fate?"

Zoë considered her options. "Upon attaining godhood, I learned what each god's children's fatal flaws were. Yours, Thalia Grace, is excessive selfishness. I wonder if this is a manifestation of that, in the guise of a 'lesser of two evils'?"

"I need your decision. I only have a few moments," she claimed.

"…Very well, Thalia Grace."

The girl smiled genuinely, as a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. "Thank you," she said. " _I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis. I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood and join the hunt."_

Thalia was enveloped in a silvery glow, and then had a bow and quiver of arrows strapped onto her back, in addition to her Regalia and Aegis.

"Now then," Zeus stood. "A new goddess has been born. I believe this calls for celebration!"

xxxXXXxxx

Percy and Annabeth stood off to the side as a whole assortment of mythological creatures milled about, serving drinks to the gods, both major and minor, or just generally had a good time in Zoë's honor. When she addressed Percy, she said to just call her Zoë, despite her technically taking Artemis' name and role.

Percy looked at Annabeth. She was still wearing her tattered dress from Westover. Percy offered her his jacket, which she accepted to cover up where it had been torn. He wanted to make her laugh or at least smile, but he just didn't know how. She just kept staring ahead, keeping a firm grip on his good hand, just to remind herself that she wasn't alone anymore. "…Thalia thought I was dead, didn't she?" Annabeth said finally.

"…Yeah," Percy admitted. "But she also said that you didn't care about me, so…"

Annabeth squeezed Percy's hand tighter and looked him in the eye. "You _know_ that's not true, right?" she asked.

"I never believed her," he asserted. "Though when she said it, I might've…" he recalled how he dangled her 15,000 feet in the air. "…Overreacted."

Annabeth considered his words for a moment, and then finally laughed, though very lightly. "W-what about you?" she wondered. "Did you ever think I was dead?"

"Not even for a second," Percy claimed. "…I _couldn't_ think you were dead, Brighteyes," he claimed. "You're all I have, you know?"

She smiled at that. "You too, Seaweed Brain."

The two stared into each other's eyes for a second. "…I really wanna dance with you right now, to make up for not dancing with you before."

"…I think if we tried, we'd fall over and break our bodies even more," she said. "Rain check?"

"Maybe on Valentine's Day or something…" Percy said. The blond nodded, and kissed him.

"Annabeth," Athena called from across the room, motioning for the girl to join her.

"I've…got to take this," she said, separating from Percy.

"I'll go with you."

"No, I'd…better take this alone," she said. "She's probably gonna scold me for speaking out. It'll be fine," she assured, leaving Percy alone.

He stood there awkwardly for a second, before beginning to wander. It was an odd feeling; he was so surrounded by power. All of these gods and magical creatures. It really put it into perspective for Percy. He was just a cog in the larger machine. All of these entities around him weren't friendly, they just wanted to use him for their own gains. Because they found him amusing. This whole quest, he'd been manipulated to do exactly what some higher power wanted.

"Percy," a familiar voice tore away Percy's thoughts.

" _Speaking of people that manipulated you,"_ riptide mentioned as Percy turned, seeing Aphrodite speaking with Poseidon. She was gesturing him over. He really wanted to refuse, especially without Annabeth there to back him up, but he had a feeling that they'd be insulted if he did, so he walked over.

If there was any consolation, Poseidon looked as annoyed to talk to Percy as Percy felt nervous when thinking about Poseidon. "Yes, Aphrodite?"

"Lady Aphrodite," Poseidon corrected.

"Lady…Aphrodite…"

"I was just telling daddy about how you helped my daughter a few months back!"

"O-oh, that? Well…it was nothing…" Percy claimed.

"That is was," Poseidon agreed. Aphrodite hit his arm.

"I was just telling him how helpful you were, is all," she said. "And how brave you were on your quest."

Brave? " _Yeah right,"_ Percy thought, looking down.

"Well, it _is_ his fatal flaw," Poseidon claimed. "Excessive bravery."

"What? How is that a bad thing?" Percy questioned.

"Because it can manifest itself in multiple ways, Percy. Mostly, it involves doing dangerous things because you either think that it's the only way or because you don't want someone else to risk doing it themselves. Most times, it results in the demigod in question doing things that they aren't prepared to do, or are unable to do. Such as, for example…" Poseidon silently dared Percy to argue. "Challenging Atlas, only to freeze up."

"B-but that wasn't his fault," Aphrodite claimed, though Percy wasn't listening to her anymore. His inferiority was quickly being replaced by anger. "The reason Titans are so strong is that they can reverse the effect of a fatal flaw, so it was natural that Percy-"

"So is this how you treat everyone or do you just want me to feel like the most worthless piece of shit demigod there is?" Percy interrupted. Poseidon chuckled.

"I would not lie to you Percy. I was merely giving examples of-"

"Examples my ass. I fought Atlas in _your_ name."

"I did not ask you to do that," Poseidon said, standing over the demigod. Percy clenched his fist. "You should learn your place, mortal," Poseidon warned. "Do not even _think_ you'd make it out of Olympus alive if you attacked me," Percy didn't realize, but he was shaking. The inferiority was coming back.

"I-If you wanted me dead, y-you'd have voted…" Poseidon's eyes made it very clear that he was not to be trifled with. "Differently…"

Surprisingly, the sea god considered Percy's words. Even in thought, Percy felt weary around him, and yet he didn't want the god to leave. He was like the pull of the tide before a giant wave hit the beach. "I elected to spare you demigods because I agreed with what the new goddess of the hunt had to say. It _is_ long past time for us gods to fight our own battles and make our own risks. Though I, personally, am surprised that the vote didn't tip against you. Just look at what happened to our only risk-taker; Artemis."

"She was…"

"A fool," Poseidon claimed. "She wanted it both ways; to be a fully-fledged Olympian and an independent deity. It split her loyalties, and her power, too thin."

"She was a hero," Percy argued. "She saved our lives."

Poseidon chuckled. "Would you not think a man foolish for sacrificing himself for, say, a gnat?"

Percy clenched his fist again. "You're saying she should've let us die."

"If I had to compare the worth of her over you, then yes, I would choose her," Poseidon claimed.

Aphrodite saw that this was going to go south. "Okay boys, let's not-"

"Don't you ever think that you're being too harsh towards demigods? Unlike you, we can very easily lose our lives, fighting _your_ battles."

"Did we not just vote to fight 'our' battles? We already have a war on our hands, because of the actions of a demigod, if you would recall."

"Luke is being controlled. It's just like Zoë with Atlas, only Kronos is more subtle."

"And if I would have my choice, I would have vaporized the daughter of Atlas before she attained godhood, but I chose to heed the previous Artemis' wishes."

"And we're done with _that_ conversation!" Aphrodite said, stepping between the two.

"No, I want to hear the boy's retort," Poseidon said.

"If I told it in all bluntness, you'd vaporize me."

With that, Poseidon turned away. "I will leave you now," he announced, walking away. A void crept into Percy's heart as he left. It was the same void as before, when Poseidon had rejected him.

"W-wait," Percy said. What had he been thinking? Wasn't the goal to get Poseidon to like him? Why the hell would he say that? Poseidon wasn't slowing down. Percy stepped toward him. "Wait, father…" he stopped himself, as Poseidon ignored how Percy addressed him, and just kept walking away. Percy's anger returned as the sea god continued to ignore him. In just three words, Percy's anger exploded; all of the resentment he'd felt toward his father burst out all at once. "Look at me!" he roared, sending echoes throughout the hall, silencing everyone and forcing them to look. Poseidon stopped. "I've been trying _everything_ to get you to notice me. I don't back down, I never give up when I battle hordes of monsters! I fight in _your_ name, Poseidon! _Yours_! What more do you want from a son who you refuse to acknowledge?"

The god turned around, his form flickering in rage. "And why should I acknowledge you, Cruel Spider, hm?" he questioned. "What have you done that is worthy of my notice?"

"I killed the Nemean Lion, I killed Polyphemus! I've delayed the Titans' rise _twice_ now! And I stopped a war between you and Zeus!"

Poseidon laughed. "And out of all of those, only the cat was by your own merits. Even then, it had already been done before. And what of your many failures? Are we to ignore them? Your first quest was completed through luck. Your second succeeded only by the planning of the girl and incompetency of your enemies. And what of Atlas? You challenged him foolishly, and simply stood there. Is that not something to note? That you locked up at the sight of the Titan and then sentenced one of the Olympians to death?" he listed them off. "You mortals…you are all the same; you have been the same since even we were born. You complain and whine that we do not notice you, when you do _nothing_ to garner notice other than failures."

"Maybe if you'd have claimed me…" Percy muttered, feeling tears roll down his cheeks. He tried to act more confident than he felt despite that.

Poseidon chuckled. "No…I would not claim you. I told you before; I am a pragmatic man. I deal in merit, not right. And you, mortal, have none. You are lucky I would not obliterate you on the spot for your insolence," the sea god growled as he stormed away.

Slowly, everyone else turned away. Percy quickly wiped his face, and tried to regain himself. "Do not mind him," Athena said, walking up to the demigod with Annabeth, who took his hand. "He has always been the most…reclusive of the Olympians."

"Percy, what was that about?" Annabeth questioned. "I knew you didn't have the best relationship, but that was so… bitter."

"It is because the apple does not fall far from the tree," Athena claimed. "You are truly your father's son," she claimed. It sounded like a compliment, but it definitely made Percy feel even worse. "Still, an enemy of Poseidon is a friend of mine. I don't believe we've been properly introduced. I am Athena," she held out her hand. "Goddess of Wisdom."

The son of Poseidon stared at the offer for a moment, feeling only like sprinting straight off of Olympus at the moment for the verbal beatdown he just endured. Percy reluctantly took her hand, noticing the same silver gray eyes he'd become so accustomed to. "…Thanks for giving Annabeth her nickname," Percy said. "No offense, but you…voted to kill me."

She waved it off. "Well, water under the bridge," she claimed.

"That was thirty minutes ago."

"Semantics," Athena claimed. "I suppose you might be wondering why the Ophiotaurus was so important in the Titan's plan."

"If you're anything like your daughter, my 'wonder' doesn't really decide whether you explain or not."

"You see," she said, leading the group back into the throne room, and then behind it. It was completely invisible from the front, where any mortals who entered would be. It was a large fireplace, with a massive golden blaze. It made no crackles, and let no embers drift off. At the base was a small girl tending to it. "The Ophiotaurus is the only monster capable of putting out this flame."

"And…this flame is…"

"It is the Heart of Olympus. If this dies, then we all die," the small girl explained. "Hello, demigods," she gave off a pleasant smile. "I am Hestia, goddess of the hearth."

"I'm-"

"I know who you are," she interrupted.

"Okay…so what did you end up doing with Tess?"

"The Ophiotaurus is safe on Olympus, able to swim freely in its waters," Athena assured. Percy nodded.

"Oh, and before I forget, because it's kind of customary to ask…it's cool if I date your daughter, right?" Percy questioned. Annabeth slapped his arm.

"Percy!" she snapped, her cheeks getting red. Athena smiled.

"It is fine. Unlike _some_ goddess, I do not play fate with my children and their lives. Their destinies are their own, save for a nudge here and there," she claimed.

" _Gee, I wonder which goddess she's talking about,"_ Riptide said. " _Hey wisdom chick,"_ the goddess frowned. " _How is it that you have kids if you're a maiden?"_

"Do not refer to me like that, you hunk of scrap metal," Athena warned.

"What'd it say?" Annabeth wondered.

"I have children by-"

"There you are!" Zoë said as she jogged over to them.

"You _do_ realize you can teleport now, correct?" Athena mentioned. "If you require assistance, I can-"

"No, no. It is fine," Zoë assured before turning her attention to the demigods. "I would like to speak to you in private, if you would not mind."

Annabeth and her boyfriend exchanged a look, but soon agreed, with Athena and Hestia leaving them alone. "What's up?" Percy wondered.

"I wanted to repay you," Zoë claimed. "For your aid in the quest."

"No, that's not necessary. I went for my own reasons," he said, as he pulled Annabeth close. Immediately, she felt uncomfortable with being labelled as just a goal for a quest, but she didn't say anything.

"All the same," she insisted, pressing a hand to her chest and letting a silver light emanate from it. It was a soft glow. When the glow faded, Zoë was holding something. She handed it to Percy. "Consider it a gift, then."

"It's…a tooth?" Annabeth questioned, looking at it. It looked like a dragon's tooth; ivory white, feeling heavy and strong. "Or what?"

"That is the mortal Zoë's soul and will. As the godly Zoë, or Artemis if you must, I no longer have any need for it."

"But…why are you giving it to me?" Percy wondered.

"Because," Zoë smirked. "Sometimes you need a reminder that you have allies on Olympus. When the time comes, I expect you not to kill me with the wrong choice."

Percy took a deep breath. "Okay, um…thank you, Zoë, or…Artem…ArteZoë…I'ma just call you Artichoke, okay?"

" _Isn't it a little soon to allude to your fight with Atlas?"_

"Shut up, Riptide," Percy ordered.

Zoë frowned. "Why must you make me regret this so quickly?" she lamented.

Percy tried to change the subject. "Hey, now that you're a god, maybe you can tell off Hercules for real."

Zoë smiled, which really lifted Percy's spirits up. With all that talk of his aid during the quest…it only made him more depressed that he basically killed Artemis.

"Perhaps I shall. And perhaps you'd join me, friend?" she requested.

"I didn't think it was possible," Annabeth jumped in. "The always stalwart Zoë Nightshade actually made a friend. And with a boy, no less."

Zoë turned away. "Well, it wasn't for his tact."

"Yeah, it _is_ a steep learning curve with him…" Annabeth teased.

"Hey, watch it, Brighteyes."

He warned her, but he only held her tighter. It felt so good to have her back in his arms, after so long apart, after so many perils. And yet, at the same time, Percy felt empty about everything else. This quest was a disaster, the Titan War was nearly upon them, and the gods basically all hated him. Percy couldn't help but wonder, for a brief moment, if Annabeth was worth it.

Then he looked into her sparkling gray eyes, and he decided that she was.

xxxXXXxxx

When they went back to camp, they held a burning of the shroud for Artemis. It took the Hunters a while to adjust to the new social order, and Zoë was sure to leave out Thalia's betrayal in her explanation to them. Percy and Annabeth were relegated to the infirmary for a week once they'd arrived, with two more on probation from fighting.

Still, they went to see the Hunters off. "It seems that this is goodbye, for now," Annabeth said to Thalia, hugging her.

"So it would seem," the daughter of Zeus claimed. "But it is for the best."

"I know, but…I _just_ got you back."

"This isn't a permanent goodbye. I'll visit when I can, okay? And Annabeth?"

"Yeah?"

Thalia brought her into a hug. "I'm…sorry, for being so…unfeeling toward your situation."

"It's alright," Annabeth assured, returning the gesture before separating, as Percy walked up to them.

"You'd better take care of her," Thalia warned. "Or your little sword isn't going to protect you."

"Just get out of here," Percy returned. "Or do I have to hang you out of a flying car again?" he questioned as he smirked.

"Enough," Zoë stepped in between them. "Thalia, go make sure our supplies are in order," she commanded, which Thalia left to do.

"Good luck, Artichoke," Percy said. "You'll keep in touch?"

"I will try," she said.

"What will you do now?" Annabeth wondered.

The goddess took a deep breath. "The Great Stirring is now well underway. My Hunters and I will do what we can to impede the monster growth around the country. If we need assistance, I'm sure you'll be ready."

"Right," Percy agreed, fist-bumping her.

"I want out."

The voice came as suddenly as Bianca appeared in the shadow of Thalia's tree next to them. "Oh hey, Firefly, what's up?" Percy wondered, walking toward the daughter of Hades.

"You should be with the others down the hill," Zoë claimed. Bianca looked dejectedly at the goddess.

"I want out…" she repeated.

"Want out of what?"

"This…" she motioned to herself. "I don't want to be a Hunter."

"Bianca," Percy warned. "You'll give up your immortality."

"If you so wish, the only way to lose the blessing is to break the bond of maidenhood," Zoë claimed. "…If your decision is to stay at camp, I will respect that, but think carefully before you-"

"No!" Bianca snapped. "I don't want …any of this…" she moaned.

"Bianca…this is the life you live," Annabeth said. "You can't run from it."

"Yeah, it's either the Hunters of Camp Half-Blood. If you don't choose one of those two, it'll be like committing suicide."

Bianca looked down, hiding her ghostly white eyes. Then she started laughing. It was quiet at first, but then it grew into a full-on cackle. It wasn't like her normal laughs either, like her cute little giggles or her bursts of laughter when something stupid happened. This was the kind of laughter you'd hear at a mental institution; psychotic.

"Bianca…?" Percy said her name cautiously, putting a hand on her shoulder. Then, without warning Bianca rammed her lips into Percy's. Her silver glow quickly faded, as did her sense of wisdom that came with the blessing. Even her bow, arrows, and grappling hook disappeared. Bianca separated from Percy, and stared into his eyes.

"…I'm never gonna forget you, Percy Jackson," she claimed, just before Annabeth yanked her away from her boyfriend, and drew her dagger, though she still wasn't in any condition to use it.

"What the _hell_ are you doing, you bitch?!" the daughter of Athena demanded. Bianca didn't respond, at least not to the question.

"I'm leaving," she announced. "I don't belong here."

"B-but-"

"But don't worry," she turned back. She said only one more thing, and for a moment she returned to her old self, with her grin, right before she bounded off and became enveloped in darkness once more. "I'll be fine!"

 **Author's Note:**

 **Okay, so this one took for FUCKING ever to write! Not only because I had to rewrite large chunks of it to help it flow a bit better, but because I was just generally lacking inspiration for this particular part basically from the end of the battle onward. But whatever.**

 **A quick note before I go into the usual stuff for the last chapter notes; I'm going to be taking a prolonged hiatus from this project. At best, I'll return in about two weeks, at worst, maybe a month. I've literally been writing this nonstop for a month and a half already and I need a break, and in a big way. Anyway, with the announcement out of the way, onto the usual stuff!**

 **So, the opening for this particular season is complicated, because I couldn't pick between two songs. So the first one I picked is the easier of the two to explain, which is _Monochrome Kiss_ by SID, specifically the English version by Y Chang (hey there he is again). there's also a version by shadowlink4321 which is a full version, but I feel like the tv-size Y Chang version is a bit more applicable to this story. so this one is based entirely on words; the entire song could really be applied rather equally to Percy in response to Annabeth (most strongly), Bianca, Zo** **ë, or Thalia (to a lesser extent). The song, generally, has themes of temptation, fate, and lies. With the amount of turmoil that Percy was feeling throughout this stretch of the story, it fits. At the very beginning, the singer (Percy in this case) closes their eyes, so they don't know who they're singing to. , adding to the fact that it could be any one of them. I won't go through every line, but "a dream of blind destiny" could apply to Annabeth in how they both have pivitol roles in the events of the series but they don't know what their destiny is. It could apply to Bianca for similar reasons. It could apply to Thalia, as both of them were candidates to be the hero of the Great Prophecy. "And it's into your arms I'm melting, and it's the first time I've ever felt like this" is most strongly associated with Annabeth, as it's the first intimate relationship Percy has had. A case could be made for Thalia, as Percy came to reluctantly rely on her since she emerged from the tree, and it's the first time he's felt such a direct inferiority to someone. It could less so apply for Zo** **ë, as the two eventually come to confide in each other. the first line of the chorus, and the last line period, makes references to the night sky, where Artemis is very connected. "I search beyond the words, wanting a sign" could refer to Percy looking for some relief in the prophecy, wanting a sign that he'll find Annabeth alive and well. "But lost inside your eyes, lies become clearer to see" could refer to Percy and Annabeth, as Percy drifts further away to the perceived lies of the Olympians. It could refer to Zo** **ë, as he slowly breaks through her shell. It could refer to Bianca, who shows a different and more dangerous side of herself after Nico's death, making it appear like her previous attitude had been the lies that the singer sees. "In spite of every sign crying this night to be true, the sun will rise without you" could refer to any one of the girls, as well as Artemis. "A toast to empty promise" could refer to Percy's promise to Annabeth, which was threatened by Annabeth being presumed dead. It could refer to Percy refusing to promise Nico that he'd protect Bianca, resulting in Nico following them and ultimately sacrificing himself for her. It could refer to Zo** **ë, where Percy promises to help her settle her score with Hercules. It could refer to Thalia, in both her betrayal of the Olympians and how she warned Percy not to expect a good outcome for this quest. "We fall by the light of the moon" is a direct reference I made in the prophecy with its last line.**

 **So yeah, that's one song. Hey, I warned you motherfuckers in the beginning that the later entries would have meaning!**

 **Anyway the other song I picked, for more aesthetic reasons, is _Rewrite_ by Asian Kung-Fu Generation, with the English version done by the Darling Thieves, which is an official English dub. I personally prefer the tv size version, but whatever. While not as much of a case can be made for the lyrics, I still see something. Like how the verse can be a call, and the chorus is a response. OR maybe Luke is singing the verse, and PErcy is singing the chorus in response, as he doesn't want to go down the same road as Luke. I don't know, I think it's something.**

 **Anyway, the real reason I chose that was because of the opening itself, specifically when the chorus begins. In my head when I was thinking about it, I replaced Edward with Percy as he jumps off the Hoover Dam. When he lands, I replaced Lust with the Nemean Lion, and Alphonse with maybe Thorn? And then Gluttony with Bianca as she swings on the grappling hook. It wouldn't go exactly how it does in the actual opening, but everything is there to make it cool. then when Mustang and Armstrong are doing their things, I replaced them with Zo** **ë and Thalia, and then with the final thing in the ballroom, I just basically imagined how Ed was running towards Envy (the guy who grins at the end who I personally replaced with Atlas), and replacing him with Percy, maybe vaulting over Luke so Thalia can fight him and maybe seeing Bianca and Zo** **ë fighting some monsters in the background, with Artemis under the sky, and Percy running in time with the music and agh! It's so cool man!**

 **Okay...so that took longer than was probably necessary. Anyway, onto prophecy explanation and fun facts!**

 _ **Campers and Hunters must brave the land**_

 **This one is self-explanatory.**

 _ **Daughter of sky a chance at power withstand**_

 **This refers to Thalia as Luke convinced her to give up on the Olympians. The "power" in question is in the Ophiotaurus, which she dragged up Mount Orthys.**

 _ **Friend turned foe a shadow's death**_ **become**

 **A lot of people expected Percy or Thalia to be the friend turned foe, but it turned out to be Zo** **ë as she was being controlled by Atlas. The shadow was obviously Nico then, as he emerged from shadow to protect Bianca.**

 ** _Just one shall bear the cursed's fulcrum_**

 **A fulcrum is an essential widget in this context, with the fulcrum in question being the weight of the sky. This line refers to how one person, no more and certainly no less, must hold the weight of the sky during the final conflict.**

 _ **Another is lost at the dead one's call**_

 **This refers to Zo** **ë assuming godhood and giving up her mortality entirely and becoming lost to the mortal world, at the deceased Artemis' call. There's a fun fact that goes along with this one.**

 _ **Battle lost by stars and moonlight fall**_

 **This could refer to two things. It could refer to the fact that everything would've been destroyed if no one supported the sky. It could also refer to that when Artemis used her Divine Form, the constellations fell down and fought for the questers, but it resulted in Artemis giving up her life, making one of the quester's goals a failure. The battle isn't lost by the heroes, but by the villains, as it eradicated their army and incapacitated Atlas, as the stars fell down as attacked them and Artemis, deity of the moon, perished.**

 **So fun fact: I only decided that Artemis would die midway through writing chapter 34, so...yeah. I actually got it from a reviewer, who I'm blanking on their name, but it was the one where they guessed the meaning of the prophecy, and they said the last line "didn't bode well for Artemis" and I was like "yo that'd be a great shocking ending that would draw everyone with." By that same token, I originally didn't have Thalia change sides at the end of chapter 34 until I wrote it.**

 **That would've changed the meaning of the prophecy, as the result of the battle would've looked a lot like the ending of the book. thalia would've engaged Luke just like this version and just like the book so that would've been whatever. But Artemis would have been able to fight Atlas (which was bullshit in the book) and knock him under the sky like Zo** **ë does in this version. Meanwhile, when Zo** **ë kills Nico, Bianca would've exploded and actually killed Zo** **ë instead of turning her attention to Atlas like in this version. Thus _Another is lost at the dead one's call_ would refer to Zo** **ë dying when Bianca awakens her powers as the daughter of Hades.**

 **Another change I made, though this one I planned since the beginning of writing Titan's Curse, was that Bianca was originally supposed to die in the final battle, and Nico would've watched on and then exploded as Bianca does in this version.**

 **Okay...this has gone on for way too long. for the record, the original chapter without the note is 10,571 words, which is 36 pages. Just thought I'd throw that out there.**

 **Stay tuned for more Cruel Spider! Oh, and how about Poseidon going full-on dick mode, eh?**


	36. It Seemed Like Something Else

Annabeth had taken a prudent approach to her recovery, abiding by Chiron's rule of no fighting or physical activity until she was fully healed. Even Percy agreed to that, which probably just went to show depressed he was because of the outcome of the quest.

"Oh look, it's the damsel," Sherman yelled from the basketball court. He'd been playing with some Ares kids and Apollo kids. "Off to see your knight, the choker?"

Annabeth glared at the boy; he'd always been the most troublesome Ares child, and he had temporarily taken over for Clarisse as counselor when she was missing. Since she'd returned, the boy had been quite bitter, as Clarisse thought he did a gods awful job at counseling. Thus, he'd been itching to pick a fight with anyone, including Annabeth.

Unfortunately for the daughter of Athena, Sherman wasn't the only one having those types of sentiments. Not only did most of the Ares kids agree with him (excluding Clarisse, despite their differences), but maybe half of the camp had been talking about her behind her back, including some of her own cabinmates and over half of the camp counselors.

In short, she'd grown used to it, and that was the problem.

Annabeth was about to go over there and beat him up herself, but he was reprimanded before she could take more than a few steps. "Why do you feel the need to do that?" a young Apollo girl questioned. She had just come last summer. Her name was Winona Solace, and she was the girl that had elected to care for Annabeth when she arrived in a near-dead state two weeks ago. The Apollo counselor, Michael Yew, chose to care for Percy, to make up for not participating in a stupid volleyball match that apparently happened during Annabeth's captivity. She chose not to ask when it was brought up.

"Because it's true," Sherman looked so sure of himself, before Win landed a direct shot to the family jewels. The boy immediately keeled over.

"Well, what's also true is that guys can go down way easier than girls. Idiot," she said, putting a hand on her hip. The girl waved to Annabeth in a friendly manner, and then shooed her away, probably for her own good. The daughter of Athena reluctantly waved back, and then took her up on that advice.

It wasn't as if she would actually do anything to the asshole anyway; her probation from combat wasn't finished yet. Though, if she could've gotten him to throw the first punch…no…

Annabeth didn't want to be hit again by a guy claiming to be on her side.

The blonde proceeded up to the Big House, where she expected Percy to be. The two had had a talk the previous night, and he said he was going to ask Chiron something important. She walked in just as the conversation started.

"I want to leave camp until summer," he announced. The centaur blinked in surprise for a moment.

"Ah! Bless!" Mr. D looked like he might jump for joy, if he wasn't so fat anyway. "Finally you'll be out of our hair."

"Percy," Chiron started cautiously. "You mean to return to your stepfather?"

"No, I don't," the son of Poseidon returned. "Never again."

"Then…I'm not sure I quite understand, Percy. What brought about this desire?"

"I just feel like…things would be easier out there," Percy said. Annabeth recalled his words to her the night prior.

" _I want to be in the normal world for a while. This one just has…too much pain…too many failures to be reminded of everyday,"_ he'd said while rubbing his neck.

"Then…you wish to return with Annabeth?" Chiron guessed. "She should be leaving in-"

"No, he's not coming with me," Annabeth claimed, walking into the room. "We already agreed that that was probably not a good idea. With my stepmom and my dad, and my step-brothers…he wouldn't really get the privacy he needs."

"I see…then what do you propose?" Chiron questioned.

Percy took a deep breath. "I don't want to ask too much…and I'll still…do schoolwork for you too. I just want a small place to stay, in New York somewhere, like a cheap apartment. I'll be close enough to camp to come back if you need me, but…I'll be able to just think and be alone if I need to as well," Percy reasoned. "But I mean, if you can't then that's-"

"That's fine," Chiron said. "It is fine, isn't it, Mr. D?"

"Yeah, sure," the god waved the conversation off. Percy was well aware that he'd rather see Percy dead; he _had_ voted to have him vaporized not two weeks ago.

"Then I will handle the specifics. Should I plan for you both leaving the same day, then?" Chiron inquired. Percy couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic, but Annabeth seemed confident enough.

"Yeah," she said, giving her best smile. She was sure Chiron could tell it was hollow. "Thanks Chiron; you always pull through."

The centaur also gave his best smile. It seemed both could tell how dour the mood was, but neither would acknowledge it. Annabeth led Percy out, claiming that they had chores and had to go to the infirmary for their daily ambrosia.

Silently, Percy wondered what he'd do without Annabeth. Countless nights, he'd woken up sweating from a nightmare in which she was killed, either during the conflict with Atlas, or bloodied against rocks off the cliff at Westover. Every time, Percy was unable to fall back asleep until he saw her that morning and made sure she was alive.

"What? Is there something on my face?" she wondered. Percy looked away, not realizing he'd been staring. He felt his cheeks go red.

"Um…bandages?" he offered, trying to not to sound like an idiot.

"Smart-ass," she said, wrapping her arm around him as they walked. Both of them still had difficulty walking, though Percy was getting better faster than her, as the brunt of his injuries were his upper body. He had taken what was essentially a bullet train impact to the chest, his right arm had been basically shattered up to his elbow, and his neck now had a permanent scar forming a jagged ring from when Atlas' cold rocky hands scraped and squeezed the air from him. His lower body was mostly strained, first when Atlas began beating down on him and his knees buckled, and again when he forced himself to stand under the weight of the sky. If anything, it made his calves ripped, if not sore for a few weeks.

Annabeth, however, got it much worse. While she didn't have the severity of injury that Percy had, hers was spread throughout her entire body. The Algea had caused an excruciating amount of pain that lasted in her body even through ambrosia treatment. Not to mention the impact of the fall at Westover, which she definitely should've died from, and other physical abuse as a captive.

Annabeth shook her head, trying to rid herself of those memories. "What's wrong?" Percy wondered, his face showing great concern.

Annabeth smiled, trying to put on a brave face, for his sake. She knew he'd just worry if she brought it up. "It's nothing," she claimed.

Percy didn't buy it for a second. "You sure? I mean…you still haven't talked about what they did to you, you know?" the son of Poseidon knew he was treading on thin ice. Behind her fake smile, Annabeth was nearly at tears just thinking about what they did to her. Thankfully, they only wanted to cause her physical pain, so they didn't do anything sexual. Still, abuse of any kind is still abuse.

"I'm fine," she assured. "Here, we really _should_ get to the infirmary."

xxxXXXxxx

Approximately three months had passed since Percy left camp. During this time, he had barely done anything of note. He mostly sat around and tried to read, or watched Netflix (Silena let him borrow her password), and generally lazed about. That isn't to say he didn't stay in shape. In fact, he did what he could to not be in the apartment, but he could only do so much.

Mostly, though, Percy had just gotten a lot of time to think, and it wasn't the good kind. He had thought he needed space; that he needed to be away from the world of gods and monsters for a while, to clear his head. Unfortunately, this isolation from the friends he'd come to know has been killer, with the loneliness having crept in after the first week of being out of camp.

He sat in the shower. Literally, he sat, letting the water patter onto his head, letting his long hair soak as images flashed in his head, of the countless enemies that Percy had defeated. Now, they all seemed so threatening, when before, they might've been a joke. It was like it just dawned on him how real the danger had been, how real the chances of failure were. Normally, he tried to brush them away, as none of them were good, but he had the water to aid him this time.

Percy was shaking, trying to just let the memories run their course. " _Is this truly how far you've come?"_ Atlas' stone-cold taunts were still fresh in his head. Percy flinched when he remembered them, and then the feeling of helplessness and fear that came with it. Soon, Percy had trouble breathing as he remembered the Titan's death grip on Percy's throat. " _Cruel Spider…"_ the title that once he had thought of as threatening now seemed like a pet name or the equivalent for a demigod.

"Percy!" Annabeth called his name as she knocked loudly on the door. Percy was roughly shaken out of his thoughts. He clenched his fists and instinctually stopped the water in the air and in the pipes as he panted, regaining the ability to breathe properly. "Are you okay in there?"

The son of Poseidon took several more deep breaths before answering. He wanted to sound as normal as possible, so as not to make her worry. Eventually, he let the water flow again, releasing the tension in his body. "I'm fine," he claimed as he shut off the water and stepped out of the shower.

He tried to dry off as quickly as possible, but he caught glimpses of himself in the mirror of the bathroom. On his bang was an extremely prominent gray streak, as if all of the stress that came with lifting the sky took its toll there. Annabeth had one in the same place. Percy also noticed the countless scars that lined his body from his many battles. It used to be that they gave him pride, as proof that he came out on top of so many harrowing encounters.

It only took one particular mark to wipe that foolish idea from his mind.

All the way around his neck was a thick, jagged, crack-like scar from when Atlas' stone-like hands scraped and gripped around his throat, squeezing the life from Percy like he was Atlas' personal stress relief toy. Give it a squeeze and all your worries would go away, along with the toy's life. It was the ultimate insult to Percy, and it served as a permanent reminder of his Herculean failure, when he was supposed to be at his strongest and his bravest.

Percy took a deep breath and tore his eyes away, quickly getting decent to let Annabeth shower, and by decent, what he really meant was just boxers and shorts. Then he exited, being careful to hide the underside of his right arm.

Annabeth was waiting at the door. Her blond hair, streaked with gray, was held up in a messy bun and looked ready for a washing. "You're sure you're fine?" she asked again.

"Yeah," he assured, giving off a smile, but it soon faded when he saw her staring. First she glanced at his neck, as she did often recently, and then at his chest, where Atlas had nearly killed him with a single blow. She reached up and stroked the area, with it being scarred like an outline, due to the sharpness and edge of Atlas' fist. Percy tensed when she touched it, and quickly grabbed her wrist. He took a deep breath, and let her go, before motioning into the bathroom. "Shower's all yours," he said before he entered his room to get a shirt.

He soon heard the shower running, and chose to just lay across his bed. " _What was that about?_ " Riptide wondered. " _You don't trust her?"_

"It's not that I don't trust her…" Percy mumbled. "It's just…"

" _You promised that you wouldn't keep secrets from her."_

"It isn't a secret, what happened," Percy said, his voice lined with bitterness. "That's part of the problem. That's why we're called the choker and the damsel at camp now."

" _Even still…"_

"I'll…let's just…wait for some more time to pass, alright?"

" _Sure, man. Whatever you need."_

It was still strange to think that his sword was technically a goddess now. Zoë Nightshade, the new Artemis after the previous fell in battle, was the spirit speaking to Percy telepathically through his sword, which was originally hers. It still blew his mind to try and process, so he just took it as what it was; a coincidence.

" _So what's the plan for the rest of the night? It's the last one she's staying, right?"_

Annabeth had visited for her spring break, and she had to return to finish up her junior year tomorrow. She'd worked on some school work while she was visiting, as much as she didn't want to, and, not to be coy, but it was all Greek to Percy. You may interpret that as you wish.

"I don't know…probably just chill out in the apartment or something," Percy claimed. "Maybe watch a movie…"

" _What movie?"_

"Why does it matter?" Percy questioned. "…I don't know, Brighteyes was never one for chick-flicks; thanks the gods."

" _What about 'Your Name'?"_

Percy scrunched his nose. "Ew, no. You and I already watched that and you know what happened when she disappears before she can write her name on his hand."

" _You balled like a child."_

"I see too much of myself in that poor sap. So no. We're not watching that."

" _I don't know; she might appreciate that you have a softer side."_

"I show it enough around her," Percy waved it off. "Though drama might be a good genre…"

" _Good Will Hunting?"_

"Maybe. Might be cool for her to see Harvard and Boston and stuff. She might like the setting…Casablanca?"

" _I didn't think you watched that far back."_

"You kidding? It's a classic, how could I _not_ have seen it?"

" _Psh, as if you have standards…"_ it teased.

"Bite me, you piece of scrap metal," Percy said.

"Ahem," Percy sat up and saw Annabeth at the door, with a towel wrapped around her torso. Her face was red as a beat, though whether it was from the shower or from Percy seeing her so close to naked it up for debate. "I just need to get dressed."

"Y-yeah, sure," Percy stood and went to the doorway. "So…movie?"

"Sure," she said, smiling, before she closed the door on him.

So, the two made a warmed up a quick frozen dinner, and then popped on Netflix. "So…what are you feeling?" Percy wondered.

"Hm…" Annabeth thought about it, putting some pasta in her mouth and chewing while she thought. "I think…Your Name seems interesting."

Percy blinked. "You heard?"

"I heard that you might have a sensitive side, and I'm dying to see it," she smirked.

"…Would you be satisfied if I said you already saw it?"

"No," she announced. "Put it on, Seaweed Brain."

xxxXXXxxx

" _I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry…"_ Percy repeated over and over in his head, even as Annabeth shed tears at the same scenes that he had upon his first viewing. She was leaning her head on Percy's chest. " _Just be strong…don't give in the trap of this gorgeously animated…nearly perfect…tragic love story…"_

The movie played on.

"Hey. So we don't forget when we wake up…let's write our names on each other's palms," the guy suggested, taking out a marker which he'd brought along. The girl's eyes lit up.

"Great idea!" she agreed, holding out her hand. The boy wrote, and then gave the marker to the girl. Right as she made the first stroke of her name on his palm, the marker dropped to the ground, and she was gone.

Annabeth felt something warm and wet hit her cheek, and looked up to see Percy's eyes streaming with tears. "Oh, Percy!" she cried, feeling equally saddened by the moment. The scene continued on in the background, as the guy quickly forgot her name, and then why he even was where he was; he had been searching for her prior to forgetting her.

Percy gripped Annabeth tight. "You've gotta promise not leave me like that!" he begged, trying to regain himself.

"I promise, Percy; let's just finish the-"

"No way! I already suffered through this once!" he cried.

"Oh my gods, Percy; it's just a movie!" she claimed, giggling. "It'll be over soon."

xxxXXXxxx

Percy avoided looking at Annabeth as she went to take out the disc. "See," she said, cheery at having seen a fantastic film. "Just goes to show that anyone can have a happy ending."

"Mhm," Percy responded. Annabeth sat with him.

"And you were being such a big baby about it," she poked his stomach playfully, making him flinch because it tickled. "So…when were you gonna tell me about the tattoo?"

"Eh?"

"The tattoo on your arm," she laced her fingers with his and turned his palm to face up. "Or is it temporary?"

"Oh…I was, erm…" Percy wasn't sure how to explain it.

"STNA?" Annabeth questioned. "What does that mean? Did you misspell Stan, or something?"

He gently took it away from her view. "Let's just say…I don't want to add another 'A' anytime soon."

It didn't take very long for Annabeth to put the pieces together. "Percy…"

"Let's just…not talk about it…okay?" he asked, trying to keep his cool.

"…Their deaths…weren't your fault, Percy," she claimed, wrapping her arm around his neck and running her other hand through his hair. "You…couldn't do anything to stop it…"

"…Yes, I could've…" he muttered, almost inaudibly.

"Percy…" Annabeth said his name so delicately, it just made him feel worse; that he'd have to be spoken to so carefully was an embarrassment in and of itself. Annabeth hated it just as much. She didn't want to have to tiptoe around his problems. She knew that, eventually, they'd have to confront them, but for now…the wound seemed too fresh. "Come on," she stood and tugged at his arm.

"Where…?"

"Just come on," she repeated, giving her best smile. Reluctantly, Percy followed. The daughter of Athena dragged a chair from the kitchen table over to the actual kitchen, where she pulled out some scissors. "Sit," she ordered.

"You wanna tell me what your big brain has planned?" Percy wondered, scratching his scalp through his mangled mess of hair.

She snipped the scissors. "You're getting a haircut," she announced. Percy instantly stopped scratching, and blinked.

"You aren't stupid enough to run after me with scissors, are you?"

"I'm not clumsy enough to stab myself when I catch you, no."

"So…"

"You can't escape me, Seaweed Brain," she claimed, smirking. "Now sit."

"Ugh, fine," he said, leaning back onto the back of the chair. "Not too short, okay? It's still cold."

"As if that were ever a factor in your growing it," she returned, starting to cut off large tufts of black hair.

"Whatever," the demigod returned. "So…are you excited to go back to school?"

"Not really," she said. "It's been pretty boring without Thalia."

"Mm."

"How do you think she's doing? With the Hunters?"

"I think…I don't give a damn," Percy claimed.

Annabeth frowned. "You know, for someone who stuck their neck out for her, you sure don't seem to care."

Percy shrugged. "Meh. Her and I never really got along."

"Yeah, I heard," she said. "But still…you _did_ vouch for her. You lied for her sake too, to the gods even."

"Whatever," Percy waved it off. "I'm just wondering if Zoë has been able to get through to her. Those two working together…doesn't really seem like a good idea."

"They'll be fine. Even if they don't like each other, they know how to work efficiently. I guess they're two sides of the same coin in that regard."

"I suppose…" Percy replied, letting the blonde do her work. "Are you certified?"

"Nope."

"Hm."

"Alright…done," she said, putting down the scissors. Percy walked over to the bathroom and looked in the mirror, finding his hair to now look relatively close to how it was last summer, when they went into the Sea of Monsters.

"Cool," Percy said, running his hands through it and ruffling it a bit to get the loose hairs out and into the sink where he could wash them down. "My turn."

"What? No way."

"Come on, you did my hair, and yours is getting pretty long too, right?"

"I'm a girl! I'm allowed!"

"And I'm not?" Percy challenged, stepping closer to her.

"Nope."

"Who says?"

"Me."

"And what give you the right?" Percy grabbed her by the waist and touched foreheads.

"I'm the girlfriend; I decide fashion."

"Whatever you say, Brighteyes," the two kissed, and they kissed a lot.

" _You gonna make a move?"_ Riptide wondered. " _You're young, you've got hormones…"_

" _Shut up."_

" _It's gonna be your last chance for another three or four months,"_ it claimed.

" _Shut up,"_ Percy repeated, though he moved the make-out session closer to the couch, where they tripped and the two fell onto it, Annabeth on the bottom.

Percy reached under her shirt and lifted it up as they kissed. At first, Annabeth felt strange about it, with Percy grasping at her bare skin in a way he hadn't before, but she decided to let it play out a bit further. Retrospectively, she might say she was testing where his boundaries were in comparison to hers.

The two continued kissing as Percy lifted her shirt over her head and took it off. This was where Annabeth started becoming just a bit uncomfortable; they'd never discussed the possibility to things going this far so soon. "Percy," she said his name between kisses as he reached lower to her shorts. "Percy," she repeated, grabbing his wrist.

In an act of little thought, Percy reacted and gripped her wrist instead, holding it down by her waist as they continued kissing. She put her other hand on his chest, just in case she needed to push him away, but they kept kissing, as Percy lifted his own shirt off. He then reached again for her shorts, but she grabbed his wrist again.

"Percy," she said his name again, trying to not get freaked out. She tried to stop him from exposing her anymore, but he grabbed her wrist again. Now both of her hands were retrained. It instantly brought panic to the daughter of Athena, to be completely at someone else's mercy. "Percy!" she cried. Either the boy took it wrong, or he ignored it. Either way, he continued kissing and trying to do more. Soon, she couldn't take it.

Annabeth started thrashing and kicking, quickly shoving him off of the couch and letting him sit there on the floor, dazed and confused. He wasn't even entirely aware of what had transpired, it had been so instinctual. "I…" he didn't even know what to say. "I, uh…"

Annabeth curled up into a ball, hiding her exposed areas of her stomach and breasts. She didn't say anything, just looked at her boyfriend with a glare that told him "if you make a wrong move, you're dead."

Slowly, Percy picked up her shirt and handed it to her, before looking away so she could uncurl and put it on. "Safe…" she claimed, and he faced toward her again.

"I'm, um…sorry…" Percy said. "I thought…I don't know, that…I wasn't really thinking, you know? It just kinda…yeah…" he was very concise.

"I'm just…not ready for that yet…" Annabeth muttered, avoiding eye contact. Her face was as red as a cherry. "I mean…with everything that's been going on with you and…I don't want to it be just to ease the pressure…you know?"

"Y-yeah, but…" Percy knew to tread cautiously. "It…didn't exactly seem like it was about the sex. It seemed like…something else…" he suggested. "Is there…something you want to talk about?" She gave him another warning glare, her silver gray eyes piercing through him. "…Or do you just wanna call it a night?" Percy offered. She nodded. He sighed. "Alright, I'll go…get the bed ready. Could you pull out the couch for me, then?"

The girl nodded, and Percy left to his room to get all of the junk from the bed and fix the sheets. "Thanks a lot, asshole."

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey all! Been a while, hasn't it? Well, luckily, I have the majority of Battle of the Labyrinth written already, or at least half of it, so with any luck I should have a consistent schedule from here on until I finish adapting the book.**

 **I actually wanted to finish writing the adaptation before starting to post, but I wanted to reward you guys with early stuff and more stress for me, because this story now has over 25,000 total views across all its chapters! Thank you all so much!**

 **Another thing, I'll probably end up changing the rating to "M" sometime during BotL, as the story will contain some material not "suitable" for younger teenagers. Personally, I think it's all a load of shit, but the site has its rules, so I'll follow them...even though I've already technically broken the rule of minimal cursing in rated "T"...oh well. I don't know; what do you guys think?**

 **On another note; this chapter is basically a means of me explaining what happened to the characters between books, so next time will pick up right where BotL starts, so look forward to that.**

 **Um...fun fact: I was originally going to call this chapter "She Broke Your Throne" in reference to the line from Hallelujah (which the line was referenced with the hair-cutting scene already), but I didn't want to be too on-the-nose about the reference...also, you can hypothesize about what the throne is in this case all you want.**

 **Also, for those wondering what the tattoo thing was; it was the first letter of all of the people that Percy was friends with (or just the important people) that have died. Sally, Tyson, Nico, Artemis.**

 **Other than that, let me know what you thought of the chapter!**


	37. You're Making This Too Easy

The first week of June, the last day before Annabeth and Percy returned to camp for the summer. It was also one of the worst days of the year for them. Not just because it was the last grueling day in the mortal world; _that_ was a given. No, this particular day turned out to be especially shitty. It began when Percy went to Annabeth's school in the city, where he came face-to-face with mutant cheerleaders.

" _You nervous?"_ Riptide wondered as Percy stood outside the school's boundaries, against the gate. The son of Poseidon shrugged.

"Not really," he answered. "It's just a movie."

" _I meant about camp._ "

"Oh…not really," he claimed.

" _Sure,_ " it didn't sound convinced. " _Because you left with the best of intentions."_

"Well, they're either gonna be shitheads, which I'm used to, or they're gonna avoid me, which I'm also used to. The only people there that matter are Silena, Beckendorf, and _maybe_ Clarisse, on a good day. Even that's pushing it."

The gate opened, signaling that their school day was over. Not many people came out at first, with most of them going to empty out their lockers. Percy walked in to meet Annabeth inside, and he ceased talking to nothing.

" _And what about blondie?"_ the blade wondered. " _What are you gonna do if they rag on her?"_

" _Kick their ass, whoever does it,"_ Percy claimed. " _That's what a good boyfriend would do."_

" _Are you a good boyfriend?"_

" _I'm not gonna answer that,"_ Percy thought as he turned into a staircase and passed by a group of preppy-looking girls. He tried to imagine Thalia wearing one of the private school's uniforms, and decided that he'd rather see Polyphemus naked than try to imagine it.

" _Okay, then what if she doesn't want you to? Like what if she wants to fight her own battles?"_

" _Well, I…never thought about it like that."_

" _Of course you didn't,"_ Riptide teased. " _Besides, in your condition, I doubt you'd be able to stand up to anybody."_

" _What do you mean 'my condition'? I'm fully healed,"_ Percy thought, scowling and drawing looks from the girls he passed. " _I could take on anyone."_

" _Listen, bro…maybe you should ease into it, is all I'm saying."_

"… _I'll take it under advisement,"_ Percy promised as he spotted the ponytail of blond hair streaked with gray. He approached her.

Annabeth had been eagerly awaiting the end of the day. It was the last day she'd have to deal with this stupid mortal world for at least a couple of months.

"You going home to cut yourself some more?" some other girl talked crap across the hall, in reference to the scars on Annabeth's arms and legs from her many battles. "Or are you going to visit that 'boyfriend' you claim to have?"

Annabeth took a deep breath and bit her lip as she pretended to rummage through her locker to clear it out. " _Just hang in there…"_ she told herself that a lot.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you to look at someone when they talk to you?" the girl continued, as this was her last chance to talk tough shit the whole year. "Oh wait, that's right! She abandoned you, because you're a worthless-"

"Hey," a guy's voice entered the relatively empty hall. It was deeper than Annabeth remembered it.

"O-oh," the girl straightened her hair. "Hello. I'm, uh-"

"You're a bitch," he answered, not even hesitating. The girl, probably rightfully so, looked incredibly offended and put her hand on her hip.

"Excuse me?"

"Hey, don't get mad because it's true," the guy said, holding his hands up in mock defense. "Now run along."

The girl, not being sure what else to do, obeyed the stranger, and pounded down the hall in a huff. Annabeth closed her empty locker for the last time of the school year, and was met with those wonderful sea green eyes. "Took you long enough," she said, smiling. Percy returned with a smirk, before it quickly dropped. He raised his hand to her face, and wiped a tear from her eye. "Shit!" she tore her face away and wiped the rest herself. She didn't even feel it.

"You never said you were bullied like that at school," he said as the hall cleared completely.

Annabeth sighed and leaned against her locker. "Every demigod is made fun of at mortal schools. They just don't understand, you know?"

"Right…so, you ready for the movie?"

"Um, actually, I promised a friend I'd walk home with her," Annabeth explained. "Is that cool?"

"Ice cold," Percy claimed. "Who's the friend?"

"Her name is-"

"Hey, Annabeth!" a bubbly voice approached them from behind. "Sorry it took me so-" she stopped, and pointed at Percy, who did the same when he saw her.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" they both demanded.

"Um…" Annabeth looked from one to the other. "Do you two know each other?"

"Yes, well, sort of, it's weird," the redhead girl claimed.

"Red?" Percy wondered. "I thought you lived in the Hoover Dam area. Why are you in New York?"

"It was a school trip, idiot," Rachel claimed, face-palming. "And I told you _not_ to call me that."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I never heard about a trip to the-"

"And you still haven't given me an explanation about when you tried to _cut me in half_!"

"Shshshsh…" Percy tried to quiet her down. "Not out loud…do you want the cops on me?"

"Maybe I do," Rachel crossed her arms. "Might even out when security ignored you."

"Why, you stuck up-"

"Okay, I'm sensing some hostility here," Annabeth moved between them.

"Only because she's being such a brat and accusing me of trying to kill her," Percy argued.

"Percy, Rachel isn't accusing you of anything," she eased him down.

"No, I'm _definitely_ accusing him of that," Rachel egged him on. The two stood there staring each other down for a moment, when Rachel's glare broke, when she looked past him. "We should go."

"What? Why?" Percy questioned. Annabeth looked where Rachel was looking.

"Ew, yeah. We should," she agreed, pushing the two forward.

"What?" Percy looked behind him and saw two other girls walking toward them. "Ugh, fine."

"Stop," one of them called. "Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson."

The two froze. They weren't supposed to know Percy's name. Rachel didn't look anything more than annoyed. "What? Did you try and cut her in half too?" she questioned.

Percy turned around. "How do you know my name?" he asked, trying to sound casual. "Have we met somewhere before?"

" _Careful,"_ Riptide warned as the two girls approached. They each looked like cheerleaders, but they sported the same uniforms as Annabeth and Rachel. Granted, they had a different color tie, probably indicative of a different grade level. If Percy had to guess, he'd say they were seniors.

"You weren't supposed to get in the way," one of them claimed. Percy reached into his pocket and grabbed Riptide.

"One of their legs is metal," Rachel claimed. "The other is like donkey or something."

"Stupid mortal girl!" the other one hissed, literally. Before Percy's eyes, or perhaps he just concentrated hard enough, their appearance changed in a grotesque one, with white skin, hair that seemed like it was on fire, red eyes, and mismatched legs like Rachel described.

"Empousai," Annabeth stated. "I'm surprised I never noticed."

"Wait, you've dealt with these things before, Annabeth?" Rachel questioned. "Why did you tell me?"

"Why didn't you ever tell me that you were clear-sighted?" the daughter of Athena retorted.

"What does that _mean_?"

"Enough!" the Empousai charged. Percy whipped out Riptide and slashed as one approached, cutting off her arm as she passed. Annabeth was without a weapon, so she led Rachel away from the fighting, but one of the Empousai followed them.

"Damn…" Percy cut the other off from following. "You're mine."

"Psh, as if!" she mocked. "I doubt you could handle a single Stymphalian Bird!"

"I don't understand that analogy," Percy claimed, trying to inch away so he could dash after Annabeth.

" _Because it wasn't an analogy,"_ Riptide clarified.

"Not now," Percy begged as the Empousa charged. Percy side-stepped its strike, but tripped on its metal leg when she stuck it out. If he'd have been training since winter, he probably would've been able to react to it better, but instead, he sent straight onto his sweet ass. "Damn…did the monsters get faster?"

"Silly spider!" the Empousa's hair flared in an array of embers, ready to light up the building at any moment. "You really think you have the chops to beat us?"

"Shut up," Percy warned.

"You saw what happened the last time you tried, _choker_."

"Shut up!" Percy whipped his free hand forward and shot out a potent stream of water from nothing, shoving the bitch into the opposite wall and putting out her hair flames. Immediately, Percy's arm throbbed. He hadn't summoned water since…his fight with Polyphemus. The memory shook Percy to his core, as did the mention of Atlas and his battle with the Titan. Suddenly, Percy found it a bit hard to breathe properly.

" _Careful. You're still not even close to one hundred percent yet,"_ Riptide reminded him.

"So cranky," the Empousa didn't seem all that hurt from the attack as both stood to fight. "I think the kiddie needs a nap," she bared her fangs, slowly transforming into an even more monstrous form. The sight terrified Percy, but he still stood and raised his sword to fight.

If he'd had a shield he could play this a lot safer, but he lost the only one worth having in his fight with Atlas. Or rather, in Atlas' massacre of Percy. So, he could only play this offensively. Percy took the initiative and slashed as the Empousa, trying to out-speed it, but it twisted and compressed in ways that definitely weren't natural.

"What's wrong, Cruel Spider? Can't keep up?"

"Piss off!" Percy yelled, finally grabbing her by the hair and the stabbing into her throat. Before she perished, her hair burst into flames, burning Percy's hand slightly. "Gah! Damn…" he said, trying to summon water again to heal it. This time, though, he was unable to, perhaps because there was no more imminent danger or intense fury to direct the effort. "Where'd Annabeth go?" he said to no one as he stood and ran off in the direction she went.

xxxXXXxxx

Annabeth _really_ didn't want things to turn out this way. She just wanted to go see a movie with her boyfriend. It would've been a nice pleasant way to spend their last day out of camp. Then they would've gone to camp, and everything would've been just hunky-dory and nothing bad would've happened ever for the rest of their lives…

Things never turn out how they're supposed to. One of these days, pointing it out is going to be less funny and more sad and pathetic.

Rachel soon took the lead, and dragged Annabeth to a dead end; the band room. Bad jokes aside, there was at least ample cover to hide as the Empousa that followed them searched for them. It wouldn't take it long, though, as monsters could smell demigods like The Tick could smell justice.

At first, the girls tried to maneuver around the monster to get to the door, but the Empousa covered its bases too well, and always kept one eye on the door. Soon, Annabeth got the creeping feeling like they wouldn't be able to leave this room, and then panic started to set in.

Her body began to shake and her breathing became irregular, even as she tried to control it. She wasn't alone this time, she told herself, but it didn't help much if at all.

As the girls tried to move behind some stands, Annabeth, in her state of fear, bumped into a few. "There you are!" the Empousa whirled around towards them. Annabeth froze. She knew she should dodge out of the way, or try and find a weapon to fight with, but she just froze. As all of the fear and pain came rushing back from when she last was at the mercy of a monster, the Empousa charged.

"Get down!" Rachel yelled, pushing Annabeth over, both of them just narrowly avoiding a gruesome death. "Annabeth, let's go, before-"

"Shut up!" the Empousa threw a music stand at her. The bitch then turned her attention to Annabeth, who was still on the ground. She gave the daughter of Athena a wicked grin and then started laughing. "Lord Kronos said you'd be the harder one to kill. But you're too stupid to move out of the way on your own! You're making this too easy!" it bared its fangs and its hair started flaming.

" _Move! Move it, Annabeth!"_ she yelled in her head, but her arms and legs felt like lead.

"Annabeth!" they all heard Percy's voice rushing down the hall. The Empousa hissed. "Where are you?"

"Impossible!" the Empousa hissed, rearing back.

The boy's voice seemed to shake Annabeth out of her daze just long enough to make a split-second decision. She tipped over more stands and made a whole bunch of noise, so he'd come. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only person who'd hear it, so they had a very small window of time to get out of here before the staff showed up.

Percy burst in and surveyed the situation. Most of the room was an absolute mess, Rachel was on one side of the room, Annabeth and the bitch were in the middle, with Annabeth on her knees.

"Gah! Fine!" the Empousa whirled around. "I will deal with you myself!"

"Hey!" a voice came from outside the door. "What's going on in there?"

The monster grinned, forming an idea in her head. Percy moved in for the kill. "Oh my God!" the monster's voice momentarily reverted to sounding human, and also sounded terrified. "What are you doing?! Please! Stop!" Percy raised his sword.

"Percy, no!" Rachel called from the other side.

The staff burst in just in time to see Percy butcher one of their students, and then the room caught on fire, as just before the Empousa died she exploded into flames. "What?!" the principal just looked confused. "What happened? Who are you?" she demanded of Percy. "What are you doing to my students?!"

Admittedly, it looked like he was going to butcher Annabeth too, from the position they were in, but Percy ignored the older woman, and grabbed Annabeth's hand. "Come on, we need to go, _now_!" he urged, pulling her to her feet. Slowly, the blonde shook out of her trance. Rachel met them at the door, and the three pushed past the staff, on the grounds that Annabeth needed to see the nurse, and then they dashed off. Thankfully, whatever they saw through the Mist wasn't entirely clear, meaning they could lie and make it past.

The three got off school grounds as soon as possible, as smoke billowed from the band room, and fire trucks began swarming into the school to stop it. They stopped only when they couldn't smell smoke, and then they ducked into an alleyway to rest.

"Okay…you two _definitely_ owe me an explanation now," Rachel claimed, though it turns out that she was being ignored.

Annabeth had slid down to the ground and brought her knees up to her chest, staring straight ahead. She wondered if this was how Percy felt right after Atlas; this utter uselessness that came when she froze against an opponent. She was still shaking from the encounter. Percy kneeled down, and put a hand on her shoulder, his eyes full of concern.

"Are you okay? Are you injured in any way?" he questioned. The daughter of Athena shook her head. Percy let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank the gods, I thought that you'd…" he didn't finish, just brought her into a hug. She returned it gratefully, taking in the ocean breeze smell that his hair gave off. It always relaxed her. They stayed like that until she calmed down enough to function again.

"Hey, hello? Confused Rachel over here," the mortal girl interrupted. The two demigods separated.

"Should we tell her?" Percy questioned. "She's clear-sighted."

"But…it's not allowed," Annabeth reasoned. "We shouldn't drag her into our business."

"But the Empousai know her now, and probably all the other monsters too. She won't be safe."

Annabeth considered this. "…We should ask Chiron," she concluded. "Either he can give her some kind of veil, or he can wipe her memories, or maybe-"

"Whoa, hello, no," Rachel got between them. "I'm not having anybody mess with my head," she claimed. "Now what the hell is going on?" she repeated.

The demigods exchanged another look. "…We'll…tell you on the way to camp," Percy said.

"Actually, I need to go home first," Annabeth claimed. "I need some stuff from there."

Percy nodded. "Might as well tell your dad," he agreed, bring her to a stand. "Okay, lead the way."

xxxXXXxxx

They caught a taxi to Annabeth's little house, where her stepmom and father didn't even question the teenagers' ratty and charred clothes. Annabeth quickly told her father that she need to head to camp early.

Her father scared Percy, which was sort of normal for a boyfriend. Well, maybe scared wasn't the right word, but it was the same feeling he got when he was around Artemis, the original one. He never knew what to say or if he was messing it up.

Annabeth had a rough relationship with the man, as he was always so engrossed in his work, but they seemed to get along better after she gave him another chance around two years ago. In fact, when Annabeth told him what happened last winter, he grounded her for a month to keep her safe. Now, when she told him about the danger, he seemed uneasy at best and completely terrified at worst. "Are you sure?" he questioned. "And camp is safe this year?"

"Yeah, the borders only failed once, and we fixed it," she assured. "It'll be completely safe this summer," she lied. Sometimes it was scary how good of a liar she was. She knew that things would be more dangerous than ever, with Kronos' army growing so rapidly, and the Olympian's allies slowly turning on them, one by one…or so it seemed sometimes.

"I'll be there," Percy offered.

"You were there last winter as well, if I recall," the man returned, not sounding reassured at all. Percy flinched.

"… _wow…that was a low blow,"_ Riptide claimed.

" _I can never win with this guy,"_ Percy agreed.

"…Alright," he conceded. "Gather your things. I can call the school to smooth things over," he claimed. Annabeth nodded and left to get her stuff.

"You can?" Rachel wondered. "How?"

"Believe me, young lady, this isn't the first time I've had to cover up an instance of the supernatural."

"It isn't supernatural," Annabeth claimed as she passed with a backpack. "It's Greek."

"Hey, to us normal people, it _is_ supernatural," Rachel claimed.

"Indeed," Annabeth's dad agreed as Annabeth returned, strapping her dagger, Oathkeeper, to her belt. She'd changed into her orange camp shirt and little jean shorts.

" _I doubt those are real pockets,"_ Riptide claimed.

" _Shut up,"_ Percy begged. " _For like five minutes at least?"_

" _So impractical…"_

" _Now_ that _was a Zoë line."_

Her dad handed Percy a wad of mortal money. "That's for transportation _only_ ," he ordered.

"Yes, sir," he returned. "Only for transportation."

He gave Percy another pensive look. "Dad," Annabeth took Percy's hand. "He'll be fine. He's got me."

Another lie. As much as they'd like it, just being together meant nothing, especially with how useless both of them felt. Still, they both smiled and were sent off with Rachel.

Back to Camp Half-Blood.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys! So, as you can see, there will be some changes to the story in this adaptation. Please note that I won't be going point-by-point as I have with the other books. I'm going to change things around heavily to fit better as a dramatic narrative, so just bear with me if I go out of order.**

 **Other than that; let me know what you thought of the chapter in a review!**


	38. I'm Saying It Doesn't Matter

"So all of the Greek myths are real?" Rachel questioned.

"Yes, Red," Percy replied. "Every one."

"And you two are the children of those Greek gods?"

"Yep."

" _She's a fast learner,"_ Riptide teased. Percy was inclined to agree; this was their third time going over it.

"But…what about other pantheons of gods, like Roman and Norse? And what about the Christian and Jewish God? And what about Hindu and Shinto and all of the African religions?"

"We don't talk about those," Percy claimed.

"Well, we talk about Roman sometimes," Annabeth added. "But only to mock them."

"…Didn't they wreck the Greeks?" Rachel questioned. Annabeth and Percy shot her a glare. "I'm just saying."

They chose to ignore the insult. "So what are we gonna do with her?" Percy questioned. "Just dump her on Chiron?"

"There's not much else we _can_ do. It's not like she can stay in one of the cabins. She'll just stay in the Big House, probably," Annabeth said, and then remembered something. "Oh, that's right; did you contact your parents?" she asked the mortal.

"Yeah, but they don't really care where I am," she claimed. Annabeth and Percy just kind of accepted that answer. Percy was essentially an orphan, and Annabeth thought the same of her father for close to seven years until she made the first move to rekindle the relationship. "So it's cool. I'll just say I went to a summer camp."

"Well, you wouldn't be lying," Annabeth claimed as they climbed the hill leading to the gorgeous valley that made up Camp Half-Blood. The trio stopped at the top, near Thalia's tree, where Rachel wouldn't have been able to go any farther. Percy and Annabeth held hands, trying to reassure each other. Last time they were here, they were ridiculed by the people who were supposed to understand them. In all likelihood they'd face that discrimination again, as the choker and the damsel.

But at least they'd have each other for support. Annabeth took a deep breath. "I allow you, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, to enter," she announced. With that, the three descended the hill, and approached the Big House.

Chiron wasn't exactly pleased with them. "Who is this girl?" he wondered. "A Half-Blood?"

"No," Percy said. "She's a regular mortal."

"And you brought her here because of what reason?"

"She's clear-sighted," Annabeth claimed. "And she was seen and attacked by monsters because of us. She wouldn't be safe anywhere else."

Chiron's eyes softened when they fell on the girl. "Annabeth…we cannot protect every mortal. Plenty of them have been killed by monsters."

"Well, yeah, but…" she didn't really have an argument for that. "Please, she won't be a bother."

"Am I…not allowed here or something?" Rachel wondered.

Chiron nodded. "Normally, any mortal who enters here would be smited by Argus, our guard," he explained. "It appears he made an exception for you, due to Annabeth and Percy allowing you entry."

"Well, I can stay in here. I don't mind," Rachel claimed, giving a warm smile. "I'm still not really sure what's going on, so…I'm cool with anything, really."

"And it is for the best if you remain in the dark," Chiron claimed. "In any case, it isn't possible."

"But Chiron!" Annabeth argued. "You let Tyson stay here last year!"

"Yes, but it was… _he_ was already a part of this world. She is not."

"So? How does that change anything?" the blonde questioned. Chiron had difficulty answering that one. "She already knows that the Greek gods are real, she knows about demigods, and she's known about monsters her whole life because of her clear-sightedness. She's as much a part of this world as a regular mortal could be, right?" Chiron considered this for a moment.

"Maybe we shouldn't push it," Percy suggested, seeing that the centaur was less than pleased with them. "She can use the place Chiron rented out for me, at least for the summer."

"…No," Chiron conceded. "She may stay, on one condition."

"Sure," Rachel said.

"You will not touch anything, is that understood? Or leave this House until I can find…proper accommodations for an individual such as yourself."

"No problem," the redhead agreed.

"Thank you so much, Chiron!" Annabeth hugged him.

"Yes, yes…run along now. You have chores."

"Right," Percy and Annabeth nodded, and left.

"Don't worry, pops," Rachel said when she saw him sigh. "I'll be super helpful around the place if you want!"

"What have I agreed to…?" the centaur moaned.

" _Hey, aren't you gonna ask where the big guy is?"_ Riptide wondered as they walked down to the cabins.

"Oh yeah, I _did_ notice a distinct lack of Diet Coke on the tables," Percy noted.

"Apparently Mr. D is busy preparing with the other Olympians. The original Artemis' death really kicked their butts into high gear," Annabeth explained. "I think it's all of them except for Poseidon that are preparing on Olympus, and the Fates know what he's doing in his ocean palace. Hades isn't there either, of course, but he's busy trying to contain the monsters in the Underworld as much as possible. He already said he wouldn't actually be fighting in the war."

"Speaking of Hades-"

"Don't ask about the bitch," Annabeth begged. "I mean, she made a move on you _right_ in front of me."

"It was _one_ time," Percy returned. "And you can't say you aren't worried about Bianca. If I die, the prophecy falls to her. She should feel welcome by the camp, right?"

"…Don't say you'll die," the daughter of Athena requested. "I don't like it."

"It's just an 'if'," Percy assured.

"I don't care," she said. And that was that.

The two stopped at the door of the Athena cabin. "Okay, this is my stop. I have to make sure everything is in order; camp counselor and all," she said distantly. Percy could tell she didn't want that position right now.

"Sure, sure," Percy agreed.

"…What'll you do?"

"I was thinking of heading over to the arena," he offered, recalling how rusty he was during his fight with the Empousa. "It's been a while."

"Okay…I'll try and get over there sometime," she said. "Bye," she entered the cabin. Percy saw all eyes turn to her when she entered, but the door closed back up before Percy could see what happened after that.

The son of Poseidon then started to approach the Hermes cabin, to check that all of his stuff wasn't stolen. He went all the way around the cabins, as he didn't really feel like going to the arena. It was just the first place that came to mind. In all likelihood, Percy would just end up wandering the camp until dinner.

He passed by the Poseidon cabin, and his heart sank. The words his father had thrown at him took his heart and ground it into dust. Percy was really tempted to spit on the porch, but he was above that. Next he passed the Ares cabin, where a couple of the guys were leaning outside. "Hey look, it's the choker," Sherman mocked him, feigning like he were trying not to let him hear. Percy shot the kid a dirty look, but otherwise tried not to respond.

"Think he's going to kill another god."

"What a fuck-up."

Percy saw the door to the Apollo cabin slam open. "Oh, I _love_ summer weather!" the Winona Solace exclaimed, even as Camp Half-Blood never drastically changed weather.

"Hey, Win," Percy greeted.

"Hey, Percy!" she greeted, about ten times as cheery. She looked past the son of Poseidon, to the Ares kids. She shot them a glare, and they reared back in terror. They remembered what happened last time. "Were they bothering you?" she questioned.

"Don't worry about it," Percy said. "How's Yew?"

"O-oh," she laughed nervously. "He's the usual."

"So, short and angry?"

"I'm _not_ short!" Yew yelled from inside.

"You're shorter than Win and two years older than her!"

"Girls mature faster than guys! Study basic anatomy sometime, asshole!" Yew returned. Winona became red when he said 'mature', and her freckles started glowing gold like always they did when she was embarrassed or nervous.

"Hey, kid, don't be so self-conscious," Percy pat her on the shoulder. "It'd do you good."

Winona smiled. "Right!"

"Alright, tell shorty that I'm ready to spar anytime," Percy requested.

"Oh, that won't be necessary," Winona claimed. "There's a new swordmaster. He spars with Mikey now. You should go see him; you'd get along great!" she said as she reentered the cabin and closed it.

Percy raised an eyebrow. "New swordmaster?" Percy questioned. "We've never had a swordmaster before…"

" _Hey man, I don't want to alarm you, but that line you said to Win, about being self-conscious…that sounded a lot like Luke."_

Percy thought about it. "Oh…it did, didn't it?" he wasn't quite sure what to make of that. "Hm."

Last stop before the Hermes cabin. An old friend walked out of this one.

"Yo, Beck," Percy greeted, fist-bumping him. Beckendorf returned it before wiping sweat from his forehead.

" _Since when have you called him 'Beck'?"_ Riptide questioned.

" _Since right now, shut up."_

"Yo Percy, how long's it been? Six months?"

"It's been a while," he agreed. "How's Silena?"

"Oh, you know; a daughter of Aphrodite isn't an easy person to keep pleased."

"Ooh, rough patch?"

Beckendorf shrugged. "Not so much a rough patch; she just keeps me on my toes, if you know what I'm saying."

"Trust me, I feel you," Percy claimed. "So where is she anyway? Haven't seen her since I got here…"

"Oh, she and Clarisse are off having 'girl time', whatever that is."

Percy crossed his arms. "Normally I'd have a guess, but with Clarisse…" he tried to imagine her wearing make-up, and that just made him gag. "I don't want to think about it."

"Anyway, how 'bout you? How's Annabeth holding up?"

Percy shrugged. "Eh, the usual," Percy was hesitant to give out details, especially when they just confused Percy as it was. "Ran into some monsters on the way here."

"Typical," Beckendorf said. Percy nodded, though inwardly he was still reeling from encounter.

"Yeah, Empousai," he explained. "Probably just below a succubus and the Sirens in terms of temptation-type monsters."

Beckendorf raised an eyebrow. "Have you ever actually _met_ a succubus?"

"I consider most of the Aphrodite cabin succubae," Percy said.

"Right…well, I've got to finish cleaning up for inspection tomorrow."

"Inspection? Tomorrow?"

"Cabin inspection," Beckendorf repeated. "Silena is the inspector tomorrow…and you know how much of a neat-freak she is…and she'll probably grade me harsher than everyone else because I'm her boyfriend…" the son of Hephaestus sighed as he entered the cabin. "Well, better get going. Oh! And you might want to remind the Stoll's. They probably forgot, again."

"See ya, Beck," Percy said as the door closed on him. He proceeded to the Hermes cabin, and only went in just long enough to see that the Stoll's haven't forgotten, but were hastily brushing wrappers under pillows and dirty clothes under beds, with the rest of the cabin helping out frantically as well.

" _Ooh, they probably got the worst marks last month."_

" _Glad I wasn't here for lava dishes,"_ Percy claimed before he left, not wanting the counselors to catch him and force him to help.

With that, Percy was finally able to go to the arena. Once he arrived, he was immediately struck by how empty it seemed. Normally at least _some_ demigods were there training. So, either this guy was so good as to scare people off, or everyone _really_ wanted to pass cabin inspection.

Immediately when Percy saw him, he knew that the guy was the real deal. Normally, Percy would be able to at least follow his opponent's moves. This was the first time he truly couldn't see a sword slash. "Whoa…" Percy said out loud.

" _Hey, hey, no gawking. Retain some dignity, why don't you?"_ Riptide chided.

" _Hey, if you can gawk at other weapons, then I have every right to-"_

"Any reason you're staring at me, stranger?" the man wondered. Percy hadn't realized that the man had stopped training and was now wondering why this random kid was staring slack-jawed at him.

"I, uh…" Percy scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well, I heard there was a new swordmaster at camp, so I-"

"That'd be me," the man said, walking toward the demigod. "Quintus," he introduced, before staring slightly down from Percy's face, to his neck. "And you must be Percy Jackson."

Percy turned away, being extremely conscious about his most recent scar. " _Jeez, for someone who tells other people not to be self-conscious…"_

"Yeah, that's me," he said. "So…are you a demigod too?"

"Yes I am," Quintus answered.

"So what, Ares, I'm guessing? Maybe Athena?" he looked at Quintus' eyes; silver-gray. "Nope, most definitely Athena."

"I was never claimed," Quintus explained. "Just like you, son of Poseidon."

Percy wasn't sure how to respond to that. " _Just ignore the hypocrisy,"_ Percy suggested to himself.

" _I think it was intentional,"_ Riptide returned. " _He's trying to gauge your reaction."_

" _How do you know?"_

" _Dude, I've been reading people for hundreds of years. Trust me."_

"Well…" Percy still had no idea how to respond. "Um…"

"What I'm saying is," Quintus relieved him of having to answer. "Who I was born to doesn't matter."

"…You say that like it's easy," Percy noted.

"Yeah, I do," Quintus said. "I've been asked to come here to help Master Chiron with camp activities in Lord Dionysus' absence. It's absolutely astonishing to think how divided you campers are. _So_ much of camp life is dictated by who your parent is. It's insulting and demeaning to you kids, really."

"…That sounds like political talk," Percy claimed.

"Well, perhaps I was a politician before I was asked to come here."

"Um…were you?" Percy wondered. Quintus returned to the center of the arena. "You're not going to answer me, are you?"

"How's this for an answer?" Quintus raised his blade. "En garde!" he yelled as he lunged for Percy. The demigod had to react fast, much faster than he did during his fight with the Empousa, and he managed to do it. He dove out of the way and drew Riptide in just enough time to block Quintus' follow-up attack.

The two then sparred. Percy lost. They then sparred again, and again, and again, all the way until sundown. Percy didn't win a single time, but the rigor and effort he put into the training session was enough to basically refine his skills to at least what they were that past winter. It was the most intense training session of Percy's life.

The boy collapsed against the wall of the arena, sweat drenching his face, his arms, his shirt, and basically everywhere else on him. His heart was pounding at nine million billion beats per second, or so it felt like. Quintus seemed considerably less tired, but he was still panting pretty hard, and he slid down the wall next to Percy in a bit more of a relaxed fashion. The two didn't speak until they both could, after they'd calmed down a bit and caught their breath.

"Oh jeez, when Chiron said you were the camp's best fighter, he wasn't kidding!" Quintus exclaimed. "You know, I think you have the potential to match Achilles one day. You're seriously strong, even without your water powers, which I've heard so much about."

Percy considered the man's words for a moment. "…You say I'm strong…but I haven't felt strong in a _long_ time."

"Yeah, I heard you lost your fight last winter pretty badly," Quintus agreed.

"Tch, to call it a fight would be insulting Atlas," Percy spat. "He toyed with me, destroyed me, inside and out."

"If you say so."

"If you say…is that it?"

"Yep."

"Well…I guess I couldn't expect you to sympathize."

"Listen, kid, I've been at this game a whole helluva lot longer than you. I can sympathize," he claimed. "I'm just choosing not to."

"I'm not even gonna ask why," Percy said bitterly. "You probably have your reasons."

"I do," Quintus agreed, standing up. "Alright, you've got to get cleaned up for dinner."

"Don't you have to as well?"

"Oh no, I eat in my little home that I built in the woods," Quintus explained.

"Aren't there monsters in some areas?"

"Yeah, but do you _really_ think I'll let some monster kill me?"

Percy shrugged. "…Can't argue with that."

"Well, I should leave you now," Quintus said as he started to walk away. "Feel free to drop by anytime for more sessions. It was fun."

And then the man was gone.

xxxXXXxxx

It happened suddenly.

There was always one strange or unexpected thing that happened every time Percy went to camp. The first few weeks were as good as he could've hoped for. Sure, he was called a choker at every corner, but hey, what can you do. Annabeth took that kind of stuff harder, but it was usually fine after a talk and comfort. They could only hope that it would blow over eventually.

The two were out Pegasus-riding, on Agro, flying over the Long Island Sound on a glorious day. Things were great.

Then the sun exploded.

You read that right. The sun literally exploded right in front of them. It began as just a large impact. Agro was knocked out of the sky and Annabeth and Percy were both sent careening into the Sound. When they surfaced, they looked up to see that wonderful source of light in the sky violently disperse, until what was left was this strange black void which offered no light.

Suddenly, camp looked as if it were midnight with a new moon. Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other, and then at camp, where chaos was ensuing. And they were both left wondering one thing.

How did Apollo fuck up this time?

 **Author's Note:**

 **Okay story time; I was going to have that little bit at the end take place in the next chapter, but I just wanted that little stinger at the end. Story time over.**

 **Hey guys! Sorry about the late-ish upload; I was busy writing chapter 43 and I had to throw tennis balls for my dad, because my brother is sick. So...yeah. Anyway, I don't really have much to say about this one; this was probably one of the more boring chapters to write, but hey, next time is gonna be really fun, so stay tuned!**

 **Let me know what you guys thought, though, as always! I look forward to reading your reviews.**

 **Oh, and thanks so much' I think the last chapter alone got like six reviews in a day. Awesome!**


	39. Turn His Boon Into His Bane

Okay, okay, to be fair, Apollo didn't _exactly_ fuck up this time. In fact, no one really knows what happened to the sun. It just kinda…popped out of existence one day.

Chiron tried to contact the gods to question, but only one of them would answer; Zoë. "Yes, I have noticed his absence," she said. "It is strange, but I feel as if a void has opened within me; I suppose it is the original Artemis' essence yearning for her brother's presence."

"Then you don't know what happened?"

"The last time I saw him, it was at the winter solstice meeting," she said. "I do not know what has become of him. Though, if a quest were to be undertaken, or if campers would wish to find him, know that I will offer what assistance I can."

Chiron told her that he'd keep it in mind, and since then, camp has been trying to make due.

Percy tried to stay positive, though it was extremely difficult as this was just another problem on top of the thousands he already had to deal with. "Well, you know what they say; the lights grow brighter as the Earth lurches away from the sun," he said aloud as he nudged Annabeth.

" _Don't quote Gatsby if you hate it."_

"Shut up, Riptide," Percy muttered.

"Percy, focus," she ordered. "We really need to concentrate here. Now give me a light," she said.

They were in the middle of Quintus' new war games. Basically, the campers were in teams of two and were sent out to the woods, where Quintus had previously set out a horde of monsters with silver packages attached to them. Only one of these packages had gold laurels, which a team had to present to Quintus in order to win.

Since the blackout, as it has been dubbed, the camp didn't have any reliable light source in the woods, so they had to use torches. "And in the darkness…a torch we hold," Percy hummed as he moved it closer to the ground that Annabeth was examining. She quickly found tracks that led the two to Zeus' Fist. It was a landmark in the woods that, if looked at from the right angle, resembled guess what.

"Heard there are giant scorpions," Percy noted. The two of them grimaced.

"Don't remind me."

Last summer, they'd had a tense run in with one of them, and now to think there's more than one…

"Better than the Stymphalian Bird horde he let loose on Capture-The-Flag last week," Annabeth claimed. "I still have cuts…"

"You're telling me…" Percy agreed, before hearing the scratches of a monster approaching. "Hide!" they dove behind the rock face and put out their torch. It was hard to make out in the darkness, but they saw that blood red husk of a stinger, and they knew that it was a scorpion. But not only that, two more followed it up. "Damn…" Percy muttered. Pretty soon, the scorpions sniffed out where they were. Percy leapt out to get the initiative, trying in vain to slash at their stingers, and trying his damnedest not to get skewered. It wasn't working.

"Percy, get back!" Annabeth cried, seeing one of the monsters come up in his blind spot. Percy managed to jump back, but then one of the scorpions bashed him to the side with its pincer, straight into Zeus' Fist…well, not literally, but…you know…whatever. Percy was about to be run through, when Annabeth pulled him in-between two of the boulders that comprised the landmark. Unfortunately, this resulted in both of them tumbling over, and into a hole that Percy would swear was never there before. As for why they fell in, consider it like you think there's another step on a staircase when there isn't one, and you're sent off-balance. Imagine that, but instead of meeting the floor, they were met with just nothing; a hole.

Before either of them knew it, complete darkness overtook them, even more so than when they were above ground. "Percy, get _off_ of me!" Annabeth pushed him off.

"S-sorry," he said as he helped her stand. "Where…are we?" he wondered, feeling around and finding stone walls surrounding them of either side, while there was just air on the other two.

"A room, like a bunker?" Annabeth suggested.

"No, I think it's a hallway or something, but…why here, right underneath camp?"

The daughter of Athena took in a sharp breath, as if just realizing something. "Oh gods…Percy, have you ever heard of the Labyrinth?"

"Like…the one that was made under that one city?"

"No, Seaweed Brain, the Labyrinth extends _way_ past the city of Crete. The Labyrinth grows and expands and overtakes the underground."

"Okay…so…why is it here?" Wouldn't that mean it stretched all the way under the ocean? Wouldn't we have to go a whole lot deeper than that to get into the Labyrinth then?"

"No, Percy, the Labyrinth _is_ the underground. Or at least, it is now that it's penetrated even the camp's magical borders…"

"So…it couldn't before?"

"No…it must be another reason why Luke poisoned Thalia's tree. So that the Labyrinth could expand inside. They've probably been planning and preparing because of it too…"

"So you're saying they might try to use this entrance to ambush us," Percy summed up. "Then we should just destroy it right now."

"Even if you could, we should find a way out of here first. Help me find the mark of Daedalus. It should- ah!" suddenly, a silver mark began glowing on the wall, and then something opened up above them. It was hard to make out, as the lighting wasn't very different from inside the Labyrinth, but they eventually climbed out of the hole, and were back at Zeus' Fist.

"Percy!"

"Annabeth!"

They heard their names called by the others. "We're here!" they called at the same time. Soon, most of the counselors surrounded them.

"Where were you two?" Clarisse questioned.

"We've been looking for over an hour," Silena added, looking extremely wound up from searching. "We thought you might've been killed!"

"Or something else," Connor Stoll added, as Katie elbowed him.

"Hey, it was a legitimate explanation," Travis defended his brother.

"Actually, we fell in a hole," Percy claimed, only to get blank stares.

"…A hole?" Beckendorf repeated. "At Zeus' Fist?"

"Yeah, it appeared out of nowhere," Percy added. "While we were fighting three Giant Scorpions!"

"Percy, shut up," Annabeth ordered.

"Yes, ma'am."

"We found an entrance to Daedalus' Labyrinth," the daughter of Athena explained.

"What?" Chiron was, it seemed, the most surprised by this news. "That's impossible."

"To be fair, the impossible has happened before," Percy claimed, to which the other counselors murmured agreement. The group decided to continue discussing this in the Big House; if this got out, panic could spread because of what it implied; camp was no longer safe once again.

"Man, first the sun disappears, and now the Labyrinth opens up?" Beckendorf complained. "What _else_ could go wrong?"

"Or maybe it's all connected," Silena offered. "It's _got_ to be, right? Why else would it come up at the same time?"

"Actually, I think the Labyrinth infiltrated the camp back last summer," Annabeth mentioned, her eyes tense with thought. Percy had seen it plenty of times, and then gotten frustrated trying to shake her out of it to talk to him. "Only when the camp's magical borders were weakened could it have gotten through. They're what have been keeping it out all of this time, right?"

All eyes were on Chiron. "Yes, that's correct, Annabeth. However, that we have not noticed it all of this time is what troubles me. The Titan Lord's army may be gathering somewhere within camp as we speak. They may have been exploiting that weakness all of this time."

"I doubt it," Quintus said. "When I first got here, I scoped the whole place out, to try and plan activities and such. I didn't find anything out of the ordinary."

That seemed to help put everyone's mind at peace. "Then something must be keeping Luke from entering," Clarisse argued. "Otherwise he would have already."

"No, he's too good of a schemer. Maybe when he thought he could still steal the Fleece from us and keep the borders down, but not now," Annabeth argued. No one challenged that; she knew Luke better than anyone. "He's probably waiting for us to be at our weakest, or, like Clarisse said, he might not be able to make it through the maze."

"I'd be inclined to agree with that," Quintus said. "The Labyrinth was literally designed to confuse and to kill demigods who enter it. To kill _anyone_ who enters it, even. Though, if this Luke character is as smart as the daughter of Athena claims, then it's likely he knows about this entrance and is looking for a way to exploit it."

Just then, before anyone could respond, something made a loud noise upstairs, like a loud boom or a thud. Percy, who was nearest to the entrance, heard the attic door burst open upstairs. "Oh gods, what the hell did Rachel do?" he questioned. "Hang on," he excused himself to go see, but once he reached the base of the stairs, he saw. He didn't even need to see, really, as a wave of green mist came shooting down and enveloped the entire floor of the Big House.

Okay, so only once has the Oracle exited her perch in the attic of the Big House. It was this big huge event and everyone was super shocked by it…but this was on a whole other level.

The others burst out of the room, and joined Percy in staring in awe at Rachel, who slowly crawled into view. Her head was down, but her shirt was covered in dust, much like anyone's was when they entered the attic, as it was filled with dusty relics of the past. Annabeth stepped forward. "R-Rachel?" she said the girl's name cautiously. "What's wrong, did you-" Rachel lifted her face, revealing not the girl's normal eyes, but ones entirely comprised of an eerie puke-green glow, the same color as the mist. Her mouth hung open as she spoke, and she only spoke with an old, whispery, dead voice. It was the voice of the Oracle. She pointed to Annabeth, and recited:

 _Go down to halls of stone and gears_

 _To face the worst of your own fears_

 _The crown of death shall crimson soak_

 _The chain, the mind, and promise broke_

 _Silver eyes meet at the sun's return_

 _A dead man walking, the end will earn_

 _Victor or fallen by needle's thread_

 _Spider and owl, war's first blood shed_

And then, just as quickly as it had come, the green mist faded, and Rachel's eyes returned to normal, only they were incredibly buggy and terrified. "Oh god…oh god…" she moaned, trying to stand. Annabeth rushed to her side. "What's happened to me…? Oh…make it stop…" she held her head like she had a splitting headache.

"What the hell happened?" Percy demanded. "What did you do?!"

"I-I don't…I don't…" she wasn't even able to form complete sentences in her state. Chiron made an executive decision.

"Quintus," he said. "Get her to the infirmary. Michael, go retrieve Winona; she's our best healer," he ordered. The two nodded, and took her from Annabeth's arms.

"Did she just…did…what the hell just happened?" Katie demanded.

"I think that was a prophecy," Connor claimed.

"Like hell it was!" Clarisse argued. "Only the Oracle of Delphi can spout prophecies like that."

Percy made his way up the stairs, and found the attic entrance open; the musty smell made it down to the main floors as well. Percy climbed the ladder and popped his head in. "Um, guys…the Oracle is gone," he claimed. A couple other counselors came up to confirm, but it was true. There was no musty, decrepit corpse sitting at the end of a table; just thousands of years' worth of spoils of war.

"Children, come back down here," Chiron ordered. "We have matters to discuss here and now."

With that, the conversation on the Oracle halted, and matters returned to the Labyrinth.

"So what are we gonna do?" Silena brought the conversation back on track. "Aren't we gonna destroy the entrance?"

"I agree with that," Percy said. "I'm sure the Hephaestus cabin could whip something up to blast the entrance sky-high."

"That's assuming it isn't magically protected, kinda like how you can't rip the Golden Fleece."

"Anything is destructible with the right materials," Beckendorf argued. "If I have to, I can contact my father and he could-"

"Now hold on," Annabeth stopped them from jumping the gun. "You're talking like only the enemy can use the entrance. Luke thinks that he'll use the entrance as his boon. We can make it his bane. If one opened up in camp, then we can use it to funnel trained campers to take Mount Orthys, the Titan's stronghold."

Whether the others liked Annabeth or not, whether they still ridiculed her as the damsel in distress; no one argued against her logic. Her tactical mind was where she shined if ever she would.

"That won't be necessary," Chiron claimed, in spite of this. His expression made it clear that he wasn't kidding. "The gods have the situation under control. Camp Half-Blood's part in this war is defending Olympus."

"What?!" Clarisse slammed her fist onto the table. "That's bullshit! I would take on all of the Titans myself!"

"You act as if they won't send everything they have to take Olympus," Chiron stated. Clarisse didn't have anything to argue about that.

"So then…we should destroy it?" Percy questioned.

Quintus stepped in again. "The only way to truly destroy it was lost with its creator, Daedalus. Though, theoretically, if one-"

"If someone went down there to his workshop, there might be a self-destruct button, or maybe a way to control it," Beckendorf finished. "So…who wants to go down there?"

Eyes turned to Annabeth. "W-what? Why me?"

" _Go down to halls of stone and_ gears…That prophecy was directed at you," Silena mentioned. "And you've wanted a quest since you arrived, all those years ago."

"Well, yeah but…is now _really_ the right time to consider a quest? Shouldn't we be gathering our forces and preparing for Kronos' return?"

"Once a prophecy is given, it will be carried out, whether we assign a quest to it or not," Chiron claimed. "And that _was_ a prophecy. I do believe it is time for another quest. To Annabeth Chase. Any objections?" None arose, even from Annabeth. "Then it is decided. Annabeth, who shall you take with you? The customary number is three, but you may choose more or less if you so wish. But be warned, all previous quests have had three campers return; no more, no less."

"…" she considered her options. Percy put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll stay by your side," he assured.

The daughter of Athena nodded. "I'll just take Percy. The rest of camp needs to prepare. _War's first blood shed_ doesn't sound too promising."

xxxXXXxxx

A while later, once Annabeth and Percy checked on Rachel (she was just unconscious in the infirmary when they checked on her), Percy found himself feeling incredibly foolish. "Why do I have to do this?" he questioned.

" _Because I want you to,"_ Riptide claimed.

"But Quintus isn't that bad of a guy," Percy argued.

" _I'm not saying he isn't, but think about it; he knew a_ lot _about the Labyrinth. I'm just wondering how he knows."_

"Well, you can wonder."

" _Percy!"_ Riptide formed a pressure behind his eye, annoying him enough to make him oblige.

And so he found himself tailing Quintus back to where he called home. Along the way, he had to be careful of the monsters that lurked in the deeper parts of the woods. None of them attacked Quintus, which surprised Percy; any monster that smelled demigod blood usually came running.

Eventually, they came to what was essentially a big barn. It reminded Percy of the Big House, but its top was a little more rounded, and it was red and white instead of sky blue and white. Percy snuck his way in, where he saw that it was just one big open room, and saw probably the strangest thing yet.

Quintus moved the hair from the back of his neck as he sat down, and grabbed a Celestial Bronze plug and plugged it into himself.

" _I_ knew _there was something off about him!"_ Riptide exclaimed. Percy snuck further in, trying to get a better read on the situation. Suddenly, Quintus whirled around, sword at the ready. Percy didn't even have time to draw Riptide before Quintus' blade was at his throat. " _Ooh, probably should've planned that better."_

Thankfully, though, it seemed that Quintus had no intention of hurting the son of Poseidon. Once he saw who it was, he lowered his weapon. "Oh, Percy, I wasn't expecting you."

Percy was at a loss for words, just barely getting his point across. "You…You're a…machine?"

"Oh, you saw that, did you?" Quintus questioned with a sad look in his eye. "No, I'm not a machine; at least not in the way that you know them. Come, sit," he said, offering the boy a seat. Quintus plugged himself back in. "Oh, that hits the spot."

"If you aren't a machine, then…"

"I am an automaton, Percy."

"Don't those…run automatically? Why are you…charging your battery?"

"Well, automatons created by the gods feed off of that god's power. Ones created by mortals, however…" Quintus didn't finish. "Unfortunately, I do not know what purpose I was made for, or why my creator gave me sentience. So if you were going to ask that, then there's your answer."

"I was actually going to ask who made you."

"Oh, it was the inventor Daedalus," Quintus explained.

" _I knew it!"_

"So _that's_ why you knew so much about the Labyrinth."

"Hm? I wasn't aware I showed such knowledge, but yes. I've 'lived' since Daedalus created the Labyrinth, and have used it to travel many great distances."

"So…you were never a demigod?"

"I don't know," Quintus admitted. "For all I know, my inventor may have butchered a demigod and put his conscious into this automaton, creating me. It may sound like science-fiction, but really, is it any stranger than the other things you've already seen by now?"

"Not really," Percy admitted. "So wait, if you've been around that long, do _you_ know how to destroy the entrance?"

"I haven't the faintest idea," the swordmaster admitted. "If I once knew how, I have long since forgotten. Yes, even automatons can forget things."

"I wasn't thinking that."

" _Yes you were."_

"So…is that all you came for?" Quintus wondered. "Because you were suspicious?"

"Well, when you put it like that, I mean…"

"It's fine," the automaton assured, not looking insulted by it. "The children of Poseidon have always been rather suspicious and secluded. It took Pearl Harbor to convince them that they needed to work with the Allies to fight in WWII, you know."

"Oh yeah, that _was_ between children of the Big Three, huh?" Percy recalled. "And then they made a pact, because we threatened the world too many times."

"Nah, you've got it wrong, Percy," Quintus claimed. "They were just trying to save their own asses."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if you want to know the truth, the real reason they elected not to have children was because they were afraid of them," Quintus claimed. Percy, obviously, didn't believe him. "You may laugh, but it's true. Even if they won't admit it, their children scare them to a degree. Their children are the only mortals capable to matching them in power, especially as they grow older. See, demigods never really stop growing stronger. Athena kids always get smarter, Ares kids always improve with their fighting, sure, but with the powers of the Big Three, that kind of growth is extremely potent. The gods, even the Big Three, can't match that growth; in fact, they can't grow more powerful at all. So, yeah, eventually, your growth will be able to beat your dad. And if you ask me; that's _definitely_ something to be afraid of."

"Yeah right, like _I_ could ever stand up to-"

"Perhaps not now, perhaps not ever, but the possibility is there," Quintus interrupted.

"Alright, know-it-all. You seem to know a lot about the gods' abilities. Could I take on Poseidon right now?"

"Not on your life," Quintus claimed. "Though maybe Hades, when you were in the ocean."

"Eh? Why him?"

"Because he's the weakest of the three," Quintus claimed.

"But you said-"

"I said the gods couldn't grow stronger; I never said they couldn't weaken. By say, exhaustion from holding up the sky, perhaps?" he proposed. _That_ shut Percy up. "Anyway, think about it; Hades doesn't really have to do anything. He doesn't have to stretch his powers to control the Underworld like the other two do to keep their realms in check; he set up systems so that it would all happen automatically," Quintus explained. Percy recalled the undead toll booth leading to the different fields of the afterlife. Come to think of it, when Percy confronted Hades, he was just lazing on his throne. "So theoretically, if there was a child of Hades who trained hard enough, or I guess if they had a big enough emotional outburst, you guys' powers tend to be strongest during those, they could probably overtake him, at least partially."

Percy drew in a sharp, silent breath, thinking of Bianca. If she could defeat Hades, she might have enough control of the Underworld to bring back Nico…

"I mean, you wouldn't be able to kill any of them; only other immortals can do that, but you could scatter their essence or something like that, I guess," Quintus was rambling.

"I need to…go…" Percy said, in a daze.

"Right, see ya tomorrow. And Percy," the boy turned back. "Don't tell anyone about this; they might get the wrong idea."

Percy nodded, and then started jogging back to camp.

" _Don't you even think about contacting that crazy girl,"_ Riptide chided. " _She isn't worth it; you're going on a life-threatening quest tomorrow."_

"I have to try," Percy insisted, remembering a line from the prophecy. " _The crown of death shall crimson soak_ could only refer to Hades' Helm of Darkness, right?"

" _As far as we know, but…"_ Riptide still didn't sound too happy. " _…You know blondie's gonna kill you if you go through with this, right?"_

Percy grimaced. "She'll probably understand…probably…"

 **Author's Note:**

 **Probably.**

 **Anyhoo, how are you guys doing? I don't know about you, but I really like this chapter because it both introduces so many concepts, but is basically a giant info-dump but it kind of flows in a way that doesn't feel like an info dump, or at least to where the "dumping" makes sense in context. The characters are discussing events and things that could happen, instead of just people explaining things randomly.**

 **Anyway, writing quirks aside, what'd you guys think?I'm sure some of you might be disappointed that I'm revealing everything really soon, but you _might_ find that I switch things up later on (hint, hint, wink, wink, nudge, nudge).**

 **Oh yeah, kind of important, the next prophecy has been revealed! Yay...**

 **Please feel free to speculate on what you think each line means, and be sure to pay attention to the specific wording, like how the "fear" one relates to Annabeth's own, so it is specific to her, and not just to like children of Athena. Stuff like that; think carefully!**


	40. It Is A Cheap Approximation

Annabeth twisted and turned in her bed throughout the night. She felt like she was never fully asleep, even though she definitely was. It was like she was just waiting for that feeling of falling to wake her up, just so she wouldn't have to bear the nightmares.

That night's was a return to her worst moment. Mount Orthys; December 21st of last year. Annabeth was bound and gagged and helpless as she watched Percy be destroyed by Atlas. The fear and anguish she felt in that moment, those moments, had haunted her since that day. Too many times since then, she'd been reminded of her own helplessness. She couldn't summon lightning like Thalia. She couldn't control oceans like Percy. All she had was her dagger and her brain, and those were about as useful as a screen door on a submarine when going up against Kronos' army in the fashion she did.

Annabeth thought she was starting to get over it. Sure, her junior year had sucked just as much as her other school years, but it at least gave her something to think about, and something to do instead of wallowing in her own self-pity. But that final day…that Empousa standing over her, mocking her…it just brought everything back. Now, she knew she couldn't escape it.

She could only watch on as Atlas gripped around Percy's neck, and broke his arm so he couldn't fight against it. She silently begged someone to do something, anything, to help him, but there was no one. Bianca and Zoë were fighting each other, why, Annabeth didn't know at the time. Artemis was trapped under the weight of the sky which Annabeth knew she could never take again. Not because there was a law, but because it'd probably kill her if she tried. Thalia was busy fighting off Luke and his horde of monsters.

There was no one. Atlas and Percy were alone, and then the Titan squeezed…until there was a snap.

Annabeth's heart sank, as she let out muffled cries of agony, like she herself felt Percy's neck snap. Percy's body landed on the floor with a resounding thud, and the light in his eyes faded right in front of her. Then…Atlas was standing over her.

xxxXXXxxx

Annabeth burst up. Well, she didn't actually; she'd learned from the past couple weeks that that was a poor decision for her body to make. The first couple of times she had night terrors like this, she burst up, and bashed her head against the metal supports of the bunk above her. It woke everyone up and made them even less happy with her.

So instead of bursting up, she just woke with a start. Her eyes were wide in the darkness, her silver eyes shining through it in fear. She sat up, careful of the top bunk, and put a hand to her chest. Her heartrate was about as high as it could be when she wasn't fighting. She took measures to slow it down, but it didn't really help.

She still couldn't be sure about whether that was real; was _that_ how it went? No, it couldn't be, but there was only one way to be sure.

Annabeth slowly slipped from her bed and made her way over to the small bathroom in the Athena cabin, after grabbing a drachma from her drawer. Yes, her cabin had a bathroom; too often would people wake up in the middle of the night, and leave, waking everyone up, for there _not_ to be at least a toilet in the cabin. It actually had a sink too, but whatever.

She closed the door behind her and turned on the light. Unfortunately, there was no mirror, but Annabeth wasn't sure if she wanted to see herself anyway. She probably looked something like Charlize Theron in Monster, and _that_ was not a pretty sight. Annabeth would take her in Fury Road any day.

Anyway, she filled the sink with water, and splashed it, creating a small bit of mist. She flipped the drachma into the mist. "Show me Percy Jackson," she whispered, and the image shimmered in front of her.

Good news, Percy was alive and well, and awake, too. That fact alone made Annabeth's heart fill with joy and simultaneously slow down quite a bit. However, what he was doing confused her. It seemed like he was trying to send an Iris-Message of his own from the shore of the Long Island Sound. Unfortunately for him, it didn't seem to go through.

She was tempted to call out to him, but she decided against it, wanting to at least find out who he was Iris-Messaging. She wouldn't have to wait long.

"Shut up, Riptide," she heard through the message. "How do you know the Underworld would block her signal?" he wondered. "And by the way, how do you know Bianca is even _in_ the Underworld?"

Annabeth drew in a silent gasp. Why was Percy IMing that Hades girl? It couldn't be…was he cheating on her? Annabeth shook her head. No, Percy isn't the type of guy to do that. Annabeth couldn't bring herself to believe that he was. He had to have an explanation. He had to…

Already, a million questions were running through her head, on top of the twenty million she had in regards to the prophecy. She could write an essay depicting her personal expectations for how things would play out, but none of them were any good for any of the campers, least of all either of the questers. Not to mention, with Apollo seemingly out of commission and with Rachel suddenly acting like the Oracle and the real Oracle being gone from her perch in the attic…this was just turning into one big clusterfuck.

Annabeth shook her head again, trying to clear it. It wouldn't do her any good to stay up thinking about it. If she was truly going to lead a quest into the Labyrinth tomorrow, she'd need to be at the top of her game…though, she still didn't have the first clue as to _how_ she was going to navigate the Labyrinth…

" _Stop it!"_ she ordered herself, even as she knew that this was just her nature. " _Stop overthinking everything!"_

So, she returned to her bed and closed her eyes, eventually falling into a restless sleep.

xxxXXXxxx

The send-off for Annabeth's quest was nonexistent, at her own request. She claimed that it would be mid-day by the time she was ready, and she didn't want to waste everyone's time. Plus, it wasn't the traditional quest where Argus drove them to the city and then left them on their own; their destination was right within camp; the Labyrinth.

She spent her morning rummaging through old books on Daedalus that were in the myriad bookshelves of the Athena cabin. Especially to Annabeth, Daedalus was one of her idols. Sure, he invented some incredibly ill-conceived wax wings, but hey, not all of them could be winners. Most all of his other inventions were absolutely genius, and he probably had hundreds or maybe thousands more in the works before his death. Though, to Annabeth's mind, nothing would ever come close to the Labyrinth. To create something so powerful and magical that it could grow and expand with machinery indefinitely…it had to take a genius.

Annabeth shook her head again. She wasn't rifling through hundreds of books to geek out about the architecture of the Labyrinth; she was there to try and find out how to navigate it.

She heard a knock on the open door of the Athena cabin. Percy cleared his throat to get her attention. "Chiron's wondering if you're ready to go."

"I'm not," Annabeth answered, rummaging through another stack of books.

"Um…need any help?" he wondered. Annabeth turned around to face him. She wanted to tell him to go away so she could concentrate, but his face looked as defeated and hopeless as she felt. She closed her eyes, trying to think of a way to let him down gently.

"…Sure," she answered finally, deciding that it was better to give him this. Though, it didn't look like it made him feel any better. Still, Percy nodded and entered the cabin, and then started to go through books with her. "Anything on the Labyrinth," she relayed.

The two sat there for a while, silent. She waited for Percy to tell her about why he IM'd Bianca, but the explanation never came. She recalled last summer, when it took an extremely emotional run-in with the Sirens to get the truth out of him. She wouldn't let that happen again.

Still, she had to be delicate. It wasn't her strong suit. "So, why did you try and call Bianca last night?"

Percy didn't even look surprised. "…another nightmare?" he guessed the reason why she was watching him. Annabeth nodded. The two had stopped talking about them, even though they both had them. It just ended up repeating itself. They soon decided that just being with each other was enough to relieve the fear. "…This is gonna take some explaining."

"We have time," Annabeth claimed. She tried not to sound overly suspicious...but it didn't work.

"Well…first off, I'm not cheating on you," he assured. "But yesterday, after the meeting, I tailed Quintus back to his home in the woods. He said some stuff that rubbed me the wrong way, especially about Bianca. He said that the reason that the Big Three stopped having children was because their children are the only mortals capable of beating them. Then I started thinking about the _crown of death_ part of the prophecy, and-"

"Sounds an awful lot like Hades' Helm of Darkness. _Shall crimson soak_ might be indicative of Bianca killed Hades, now that she knows that killing gods is possible, but…no, it might be the other way around, since gods' blood is golden ichor, not blood like a mortal's."

"Right. So, I tried to contact her last night, to try and see what she was up to, but Iris couldn't get through to her," Percy finished. "That was it, I promise."

Annabeth managed a smile, even though the news made her even more nervous. "I believe you," she said. "But let's try and focus on our problem right now."

"Which is…?"

"I…have no idea how to navigate the Labyrinth. I'm afraid if we go in there now, we'll never find our way back out."

"You'll figure out a way," Percy assured. "Who went through the Labyrinth in myth?"

"It was Theseus, but he had help," Annabeth explained, before she was hit by a bolt of fucking lightning. "I've got an idea!" she exclaimed, before kissing Percy. "Oh, you're the best!"

"I am?" he wondered. "How?"

Instead of answering, she dragged him over to the bathroom…kind of an odd way to do things, in hindsight, but Percy thankfully rolled with it. Annabeth made a small pool of water in the sink, and splashed it, before throwing a spare drachma into the mist. "Show me the god Dionysus," she ordered.

"Uh, no, that is a _terrible_ idea!" Percy argued. "This isn't going to end well, Brighteyes!"

But it was too late. The image shimmered, and soon the fat god's form appeared before them. "Hey, Mr. D!" Annabeth called. The god turned to them, and immediately got a wild look in his eyes.

"Oh no! I get this one chance to be away from you pricks and you _call_ me?!" he demanded. "I should turn you both into grapevines right now!" he raised his hand as if to snap his fingers, presumably to make good on his threat.

"Wait!" Annabeth pleaded. "This is really important!"

"I don't care! 5, 4-"

"We just need to know how to contact your wife!"

Mr. D hesitated. "…Why in Hades' name would I allow that?"

"Because," Percy stepped forward. "If we don't get in contact with her, then the camp is all but ruined."

"And?"

"And if we die, then Olympus falls as well; we're your last and only line of defense," Percy insisted. "Come on, just this once."

The god of wine almost looked like he considered it. "…3, 2-"

"Don't you think she should make her own decisions?" Percy questioned. Mr. D once again paused. Annabeth's mind raced, picking up on what Percy said.

"Yeah, she should be able to make her own decisions, shouldn't she? Or do you not allow her to, after she chose to help Theseus?"

"No, I-"

"Do you not trust her? If she's really your wife, you'd think she'd hate us as much as you. Plus, Percy is a male hero; a kind that she reviles. Wouldn't it be more satisfying to see her take revenge on that type, especially a fellow son of Poseidon?"

"Enough!" the god roared, causing grapevines to erupt around the two. "Fine! It _would_ be more satisfying!" he grinned wickedly. "You can't Iris-Message her, or you're dead. You can't speak to her after this one time, or you're dead. You can't-"

"Alright, we get it," Percy groaned. "Just tell us where she is."

He waved his hand, and the vines around them contorted into a number. "Call this. She'll pick up. Say I sent you, and she might not kill you instantly."

The two demigods nodded. "Right. Thank you, Lord Dionysus."

"Don't push it, Annabelle."

Annabeth frowned as the message dissipated. "A pleasure as always," she said sarcastically.

"I _literally_ can't believe that worked," Percy commented. Annabeth shrugged, thankful that they didn't have to fight off the Minotaur or something to get information. "Right, now…who's got a phone at Camp Half-Blood? Maybe Silena?"

"I do," Annabeth said, opening a secret compartment in her drawer so she could hide it during inspection. Percy smirked; Annabeth had _always_ been a bit of a rule-monger. She, of course, had made exceptions, but what you, dear readers, haven't read are the myriad times she took away Percy's bottled sodas because they were "contraband" or something.

"But Annabeth, that's against the rules," he teased.

"Whatever. You got the number?" she asked as she put it on speaker phone. Percy showed her the digits, and she entered them. They expected just a normal call, but as soon as it _didn't_ start ringing, Mr. D's line about him "sending" them started weighing on Annabeth's mind. Soon, however, she wouldn't need to worry about it, as they both became incredibly groggy. Soon, they were sound asleep.

xxxXXXxxx

They awoke in a serene palace of gardens of grapevines and wine fountains lining the sides. "We're in Olympus," Annabeth mentioned as she shook her head, trying to clear the haze. Percy had to trust that she was right. He'd been to Olympus twice, and Annabeth had been there twice as well, as far as he knew, but she was way more observant than him, and she was huge into architecture, so she'd probably recognize it more than he would. All he could focus on was the smell of wine so powerful it felt like he was getting drunk without drinking any of it.

"Who are you two?" a female voice approached them. She wasn't anything special by mortal standards. She had that same sense of age that all immortals did, but unlike the gods or the Titans, she didn't seem to give off any presence at all, even as she bore into Annabeth. "…Apologies," she said as the two shook their heads and found it hard to focus. "Lord Hypnos set this up for when I have visitors; he said there wasn't any way to avoid the side-effects."

"You're Ariadne, right?" Annabeth guessed. "Dionysus' immortal wife?"

"I am," she confirmed, appearing suspicious.

Percy stood. "I'm Percy, and this is Annabeth. We're demigods from Camp Half-Blood."

Her gaze remained fixed on Annabeth. "Who are you?" she repeated.

"Um…I just-" Percy obviously didn't pick up on it.

"We're demigods from Camp Half-Blood. Your husband sent us," Annabeth explained.

"Who is this 'we'?" she questioned.

Percy frowned, like he'd been in this situation before. "Oh, so it's gonna be like _that,_ huh?" he questioned. "Fine, I'll wait."

It made sense that she wouldn't acknowledge male mortals; the last one she'd met, she'd given up her life for and then he deserted her on a random island. Unlike someone like Calypso, Ariadne still had the right to ignore any who came in her presence.

"Okay, I won't waste your time," Annabeth claimed. "I'm to lead a quest into Daedalus' Labyrinth, but you probably know better than most that it can't be navigated alone. May we use your string?"

The immortal almost laughed. "You think _I_ have it?" she chuckled. "Why would I have it?"

"You don't?" Annabeth was confused again. "But it's called Ariadne's String. Why wouldn't you, Ariadne, have it in your possession?"

"It is also called Zeus' Master Bolt, and yet he did not know where it was but two mortal years ago. Katoptris is also called Hellen's Dagger, and yet she doesn't own it anymore, does she?" the immortal argued. "They are also called Hermes' Flying Shoes, and yet he has thousands of pairs, and not all of them are in his possession anymore. I could go on."

"Please don't," Percy begged.

"If you don't have it, then who does?" Annabeth questioned.

"Daedalus himself," she answered. "It is stored in his workshop."

"But we need it to _get_ to his workshop!" Percy exclaimed. "How do we get through now?! Shit, this is what I get for not reading Catch-22 when Chiron told me to…"

"Though," Ariadne flicked her wrist, and in her hands was a ball of string. "Lord Hephaestus made this for me as a pity gift."

"What…is it?"

"It is a cheap approximation of my original string, made less magical and more mechanical…I'm not entirely sure if it will lead you to the workshop you seek, but Lord Hephaestus assured me it would avoid any mechanical traps and lead you to other things it can sense, like exits…live traps, such as with monsters, however…you will be on your own for that."

Ariadne handed Annabeth the ball of string, and then they were hit with another dizzy spell. "Thank you, Aria…" Annabeth never finished.

xxxXXXxxx

When the two awoke again, they were lying on Annabeth's bed, with Annabeth still holding the cheap ball.

Standing over them was one of Annabeth's siblings, Malcolm. "What the hell are you two doing?" he demanded.

"Ugh…remind me never to piss off Hypnos…" Percy groaned, sitting up, only to hit his head on the top bunk supports. "Gah!"

"Sorry, you get used to that…" Annabeth said as she slipped out of bed and stood, stretching. They'd completely ignored the boy.

"Well, your clothes are still on, so I guess…" he was trying to piece it together, like a typical child of Athena.

"Buzz off, Malcolm," Annabeth ordered, though she didn't come off as very threatening. The last time she was threatening to her fellow campers was last summer, before…last winter happened.

Still, the boy obeyed.

Percy stood then as well, and took the ball from Annabeth's hands, examining it. "So…this is our ticket, huh?"

"Yeah…"

"It feels…a lot heavier than I expected it to," he mentioned.

"Weird…I was thinking the same thing."

 **Author's Note:**

 **In case you were wondering, no they weren't talking about physical weight, but the abstract kind.**

 **Anyway, how's about this chapter, mostly from Annabeth's perspective. It was a fun one to write, even if it _did_ delay the quest a bit. I didn't like how Annabeth was super stubborn and honestly stupid for going into the Labyrinth only because of her pride in the book. It just didn't make sense. Like yeah, she was prideful, but she prioritized survival above all else most of the time. So I had that "cheap" ball of string that Ariadne gives them.**

 **Anyway, not much else to say about this one, but let me know what you think!**


	41. As Confidence Fades Fast

It was odd; everything seemed so easy in concept. Percy and Annabeth go in, with the new string, find Daedalus' workshop, find a self-destruct button, and hit it and flee the Labyrinth before it blows, all so that Luke can't use it to ambush Camp Half-Blood and wipe out the demigods that reside there.

And yet, standing at the edge of the crevice that led into the maze, both Annabeth and Percy were wary about the whole thing in a way that they hadn't felt about the mission up to that point. Annabeth took Percy's hand. While Percy took this as her trying to reassure him, she was more trying to give herself an anchor.

She wouldn't be going down there alone. She'd have someone by her side; she'd have the one person she can really trust by her side.

"Ready?" Percy asked quietly. Annabeth nodded. "Do you have the string?" she held it up for him to see. "What supplies do we have?"

She appreciated him asking questions like these; it helped her focus her mind on things she could actually figure out, something tangible. "Enough nectar and ambrosia to last us a few weeks, extra clothes, mortal food, Celestial Bronze hammer which extends into a sledgehammer."

"We really need to thank Beckendorf for that when we get back," Percy noted. She appreciated him not saying "if" they got back.

Annabeth took a deep breath. "Okay…let's go…" she said.

And so, the two descended down into the endless darkness, guided only by a torch and their intuition.

At first, Annabeth had the idea to stick to the left wall, but that was quickly dropped when the string started doing its work. Basically what the string did, was it unraveled endlessly ahead of them in a line, leading down certain passageways, and having them avoid others. Thus, the "left wall" trick was dropped when the string took them down the right path.

The texture of the Labyrinth made little sense. Before when they'd come down, they were in a square-shaped corridor made of some ancient metal. When they came down this time, they were in a sewer pipe. A bit further on, the texture of the walls changed to cement, and then back to that strange metal from before.

Pretty soon, the corridor began growing narrower, until they had to shimmy sideways to make it through. Soon, it became a tight squeeze for the both of them. " _Oh gods…get us out of here…"_ Riptide begged.

" _What? Don't tell me you're claustrophobic,"_ Percy teased. " _How is that even possible?"_

" _S-shut up! It's just…I'd rather be in an area when you can use me, is all…"_

" _Hm…maybe it comes from Zoë, how she might hate tight spaces as a Hunter since she's used to be in wide-open, freer areas."_

" _I don't care why, just get us out of here!"_

Even Annabeth started to breathe harder. It wasn't because they were exerting themselves, but perhaps because this reminded her of being in a cell. "Hey," Percy got her attention. "Do you wanna stop for a second?"

"N-no, no, let's just…get through," she returned, her voice defensive.

"…Do you want to turn back? Maybe we can go another way, and-"

"The string leads this way…it's still going…but maybe…" her voice dropped.

"What?"

"It's nothing," she insisted.

"Annabeth," he said her name gently, breaking her barrier.

"Well…what if Mr. D told Ariadne to give us this, to lead us to our deaths?"

"Well, I suppose it's possible…" Percy said. "But it hasn't led us wrong so far. We haven't died yet, and we've have plenty of split-paths up until this point. Besides, she said Hephaestus made this, not Mr. D."

"Still…"

"Let's just keep going, like you said," Percy suggested. "We'll make it through," Annabeth nodded, and continued moving, with Percy right behind her.

Eventually, the two came out to a large circular room, with eight different entryways, all with different wall patterns, including the weird metal, cement, pipe, steel, one had kind of Victorian-era architecture, the works. The string, it seemed, got confused. Up until this point, they'd only come up to two-way crossroads, and now they were at an eight-way, not including the way they came. The string kept shifting from one entryway to another.

"I guess _we_ choose this one," Percy said. He saw Annabeth once again get nervous, shifting from one foot to the other and rubbing her fingers together anxiously as the string hesitated and changed its mind. "Hey, it's alright. We've made decisions before," he assured.

" _Well, she's made decisions…you've made mistakes,"_ Riptide teased.

"Shut it," he ordered. "Annabeth," he said her name, as she hadn't reacted to his previous statement. She jumped when she heard it, and started breathing hard again. The stress of leading this quest must have been taking its toll on her. She could barely function like this.

"I don't…I don't know what to do…"

"Well, we can improvise," Percy suggested.

"I _hate_ improvising!" she snapped. "I need to plan. I can plan in just a couple seconds, but I can't plan when I have no idea what I'm doing!"

Percy blinked at the outburst. He stepped toward her, and put a hand on her shoulder intimately. "It's alright, we'll work through this," he assured. She turned away ashamedly. "Annabeth, you're everything I'm not, remember? And I'm everything you're not; we're two halves. Together, we can do this, okay?" he tried to boost her morale, but it didn't seem to be working. Percy quickly knew he couldn't appeal to her emotions in this situation, so he started appealing to her intelligence. "Let's think through this. Where do we want to go?"

"Daedalus' workshop," she answered, not seeing the point of the question.

"Okay, we don't know how to get there. If we don't know how to get there, then we go to the place that has the best chance of survival, right?" Percy walked up to each of the entrances. He pointed down one. "That one has water," he claimed. "We could try this one. What do you think?"

Annabeth nodded, beginning to see what Percy was doing. She tried to think, tried to slow her heartrate down. She examined each of the entrances and tried to use her gigantic brain. "This one," she said, pointing down one that had marble columns lining it, with intricate paintings of the gods and myths in-between them. "Daedalus' workshop will be the oldest part of the Labyrinth, right? This way has the oldest architecture," she reasoned.

Percy smiled. "See, you _do_ know what you're doing," he said, grabbing her hand and urging her through the hallway. The string approved of the decision, and forged ahead as it did. "The columns, the paintings, they look…"

"Roman," Annabeth confirmed. If this place made any sense, it'd go chronologically."

"But it won't," Percy lamented. "But this should lead us somewhere, right?

And lead them it did, to another huge room. This one stuck to the Roman theme of pristine marble columns and beautiful paintings, but this one added freshwater fountains not unlike those seen in Dionysus' palace when they'd met Ariadne, but with a slightly different aesthetic, obviously looking a bit more Roman-inspired.

Unlike the last big room, this one had only one door out, or so it seemed…

They were met with a strange looking thing. It looked like a regular man from the waist down, but from the waist up, it looked like two, just split down the middle and stitched together. The head was the weirdest part. It was literally like good-cop/bad-cop type thing, only it was excited cop/snarky cop.

"What do you want?" the left face questioned.

"Shh, it's them!" the right exclaimed. "Annabeth, we've been waiting for you!"

"We've been waiting to _kill_ you, that is."

"No, no! We're only here to-"

"Um, excuse me, sir," Percy interrupted. "Can you please form a complete thought?"

Suddenly, as both faces literally went red with anger at being interrupted, the single pathway behind the man split into two, and the two pathways were then blocked by doors. The act got across more than their words did.

"You want us to choose," Annabeth guessed. "Right? Janus?"

"Very clever, daughter of wisdom, but no. We, Janus, god of doorways, beginnings, endings, and choices…we want _you_ to choose. The son of sea has no bearing on _your_ choice, after all."

"Like hell I don't!" Percy argued.

"What choice? What are you talking about?" Annabeth questioned.

"To the left or to the right. The correct path, or the one that leads to certain death?"

"It's the right?"

"No, the left is the bad one!"

"The left is the correct one."

As the two faces continued battling for Annabeth's attention, Percy could see Annabeth's confidence fade once again. "Annabeth…" Percy didn't know how to help her this time. He could see the uncertainty in her eyes, which, to her, is almost as bad as fear.

Annabeth wished she could say that her brain was going at a mile a minute, but she had nothing to think about except "left or right." She had nothing to go off of, she had no reference. She couldn't predicate her decision on anything but blind dumb luck. It, of course, didn't help that Janus wouldn't shut the fuck up, but more than that, she had _absolutely_ no way of ever possibly making this decision fairly.

Suddenly, she got an idea. It wasn't a very good one, but it was better than nothing.

She took Percy's hand for reassurance. "I choose the right path," she announced. Janus stopped talking and just looked at her.

"…Do you mean the right path…directionally, or…?"

"No, she means the right path!"

"Which one is which?" she asked.

"Well, if we're talking the right path, it's directionally the right door. But if we're talking the right path, then it's the left, but…"

"Okay, I choose that one," she pointed to the left door.

"What?" the snarky face realized what she'd done. "You tricked us!"

"No I didn't," Annabeth lied.

"Congratulations!" the cheery face exclaimed. "You have chosen correctly! Please proceed to the Triple G Ranch and certain death!"

"Wait, what?"

"Beware the Ghost King while you're there, though," the snarky one said.

"And then, you might stand a chance!"

"Wait, but-"

Before they could elaborate, Janus disappeared, and they were left with a single doorway; the left path.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Percy noted, but Annabeth tried to steel herself. "Triple G Ranch? What's that?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "But I don't think it's good. Come on."

Percy nodded, and followed her into the doorway. Soon, they found themselves going up a slope, and then something bright hit their eyes. They both had to squint to see, as they hadn't been exposed to such harsh light in so long. Then, as they reached the top, they found themselves on a ranch. Who've thunk?

But that wasn't the weird part. The weird part was that it was broad daylight out. Remember; Apollo is out of commission, so the sun should _not_ be out, and invariably, it wasn't. No matter where in the sky they looked, they couldn't find the source of the light, and yet it looked like it was noon.

"What the hell?" was all Percy could say. "You think Apollo got his act together?"

"I doubt it," Annabeth said. "I think this is just another part of the Labyrinth."

"So…we're still underground?" Percy questioned.

"Presumably."

"But then how is it daytime here?"

"You got me."

"Agh!" Percy held his head. "This is making my brain hurt!"

" _To be fair, it isn't that big."_

The two started exploring, seeing a ranch house about a mile away. As they started heading toward it, they saw hordes of monsters just roaming around. And strangely, none of them attacked, even when they got close. It was undoubtedly the strangest sight they'd seen in a while.

Still, Percy couldn't help but feel anxious. He couldn't help but feel like they shouldn't be here, that it was only going to distract them from their goal, or maybe that it would deter them in some way. Like, okay, with Janus, it was kind of annoying, but he let them down a path that moved them along. This was just…a side adventure; something that they didn't need to be doing or having.

As they drew nearer to the ranch house, they heard what sounded like footsteps, like clattering or metal on metal…or both. When they reached the porch, Percy had to draw Riptide, if only to make himself feel more confident, but as they came up to the house, another group turned the corner.

There were twelve people, and ten of them were skeletons. It reeked just a little too much like last winter. In fact, two of the ten skeletons were the ones who survived last winter at the Hoover Dam. The other two were dumbfounding though. One of them was an actual ghost; literally a specter. The other was a fifteen-year-old girl with a blue hoodie that once belonged to the son of Poseidon, sporting ghostly white irises and skin almost as pale as the dead themselves.

"Bianca?" Percy questioned. "What're you-" he stopped when she pointed at him and grinned with her usual confident smile.

"Get them!" she ordered as the group of undead pounced on the demigods.

xxxXXXxxx

"I really don't think that'll do much," Percy claimed as the undead removed Riptide from his pocket. It didn't respond. "Jeez, even monsters have more sense than this."

Bianca giggled. "Sorry about that. They're like you; they don't have a lot of brains to work with," she claimed.

"Uh-huh," Percy didn't really care, just stuck close to Annabeth. "So, you wanna tell us what gives?"

"Not really," she said, before having her 'friends' herd them into the ranch house.

"Mistress, you should kill them now," her ghost friend claimed.

"Nah; give it time," she returned as they entered the ranch house, to be met with a weird-looking dude.

"Welcome to the Triple G Ranch!" a newcomer announced, holding out his arms proudly. To his side was another man, looking like an older version of Ares (there was _probably_ a reason for that) and a dog, but the demigods could hardly bother to notice them, as this main guy was so fucking weird.

Imagine, if you will, a guy with one head, three chests, on stomach, two arms, and four armpits. The chests were connected at the shoulders, but with just enough space between them to allow the impression of armpits…but with no arms, meaning that they weren't…you know what? It doesn't matter. The dude was a weird motherfucker.

"Who are you?" Annabeth questioned.

"Now that's mighty rude of you, darlin'," the guy spoke with a heavy southern accent; it was an accent which Percy despised. "Normally it would be _me_ asking _you_ who you are, would it not?"

"Cut the crap," Annabeth snapped, though her voice didn't make it sound like she was sure of herself.

"Ooh, look who's pitching a hissy fit," the man mocked. "Alright, name's Geryon, and I own this here wondrous plot o' land," he claimed. "Now, would the misses like to give me her name?"

"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena," she answered. "This is Percy Jackson."

"A son a Poseidon, hm?" Geryon's eye glinted with intrigue. "I hear Kronos is payin' a hefty price for powerful demigods like you."

"Tch, I say if you want to sell us off, you should sell the death girl too; she's as strong as me, if not stronger," Percy claimed. He couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw Bianca blush when he talked about her.

"The girl's use to me is just a bit more than what I might get if I sold her," Geryon claimed. "So, _boy_ , I'd reckon you ain't good at listening, but listen well. You mouth off to me again, and you get the beatin' on a lifetime," Geryon threatened.

Percy, reluctantly, shut his mouth at the threat. In all honesty, he still wasn't in much of a condition to fight, but after he'd trained so hard with Quintus, it'd be a shame if he didn't see how far he'd come. He felt Riptide reappear in his pocket.

Without warning, he drew Riptide and charged at Geryon, getting right past the skeletons that were blocking his way. "Percy, no!" Annabeth called, but he was committed at this point. Geryon raised his hand in defense, but Percy slashed through it, making it move, and then stabbed Riptide through Geryon's heart.

" _Huh, that was…easier than expected,"_ Percy noted mentally.

" _You should_ really _resume your Ancient Greek classes with blondie,"_ Riptide returned as Percy felt Geryon grab him by the shoulders and set him a bit further away, only to have his attendant sock him in the jaw.

"What the hell?" Percy stood. He saw Riptide driven through Geryon's heart, but the monster was still standing.

"You idiot!" Annabeth snapped. "Geryon has three hearts; stabbing just one isn't enough to kill him!"

"Indeed," Geryon grinned wickedly. "And look who's dog-gun run out of options. You were warned, _boy._ Now, you won't get the choice to die to Kronos or join him. Eurytion," he addressed his attendant as he removed Riptide and tossed it to the floor. "Take good care of the boy for me."

"Whatever," the man said, drawing his sword. Already, Percy had about six skeleton weapons at his throat, preventing him from, say, summoning water to blast Eurytion away.

"W-wait!" Annabeth cried. She felt the helplessness return, but she forced it down and forced herself to think. "Show us around your ranch!" she requested.

"Excuse me?"

"You could show us around," Annabeth repeated. "And find one of the most horrible monsters to rip him to shreds instead."

"Sounds fun!" Bianca exclaimed. "Let's do it!"

Annabeth shot the girl a glare, but couldn't help but silently thank her. It was likely her influence that persuaded the monster to agree.

"Well, I s'pose it can't hurt none," Geryon shrugged. "Then, to the carts we go."

xxxXXXxxx

Annabeth wasn't paying any attention to Geryon's tour of Triple G Ranch. She was busy running calculations in her head, determining the probability of success of any of the plans she was constructing in her head, but all of them came out to like five percent success rate. See, they couldn't just break through and run. First, they had over a dozen enemies holding them back, second, Eurytion had a bow, so he'd probably shoot them down.

Annabeth saw a river not too far from the tour route, but she doubted that Percy could draw enough water to be of much use. Besides, they'd gut him once they found out he was drawing power off of it. They could try to get _to_ the water and fight them off while he's powered-up, but with his lack of confidence and general performance as of late, she wasn't sure how reliable he was in a fight right now…not that she had any room to talk in that regard. Plus, they had Bianca, who Percy claimed was as strong as him…Annabeth couldn't be sure whether he meant normally or when he powered up, but either way, with the odds stacked against him…

"What's that over there?" Percy questioned, trying to keep the conversation away from Kronos. "You herd cows _and_ monsters?"

"Those are Apollo's Sacred Cattle," Geryon said off-handedly. "We breed them for meat, to feed the monsters."

"Wouldn't…Apollo be…mad?" Percy questioned.

"If he was angry, he would tell me. But wait, he _can't_ tell me no more, can he?" Geryon chuckled, as if remembering a joke.

"You know what happened to him?"

"Oh, I know," the monster confirmed.

"Was he killed?" Percy questioned. "Please tell me he was; he was _so_ full of himself."

"Unfortunately no," Eurytion said.

"Don't you speak of it," Geryon ordered. Suddenly, a massive stench wafted toward them, and they all collectively gagged. "Gods…move along, quickly."

"What _is_ that?" Bianca inquired, holding her nose.

"It's just, uhrp…my stables," Geryon said. "For my prized flesh-eating horses."

"Is there any reason you haven't cleaned them recently?" Percy questioned.

"It is, how to say…difficult," Geryon smirked. "That's why it was a labor for that other kid, Hercules."

"We call him Heracles," Percy mentioned.

"Well, congratulations, boy; you're Greek."

Percy grimaced. "Don't remind me," he said. He looked to Annabeth, hoping she could use that fact to her advantage, but she was drawing up a blank. So, Percy had to come up with the idea. "Shot in the dark, maybe we could clean it?"

"Hm?" Geryon wasn't sure he heard right. "Excuse me, _boy_ , but did you just offer to repeat a labor?"

"Well _I_ couldn't do it. But Annabeth could."

"Wait, what?" Annabeth questioned, not believing what she was hearing. "Percy-"

"And in exchange, you let us go free."

"The original labor was done in a single day; what say you to that?"

"She can do it," Percy assured, staring directly at her. She hated it when he did this, and he'd been doing it more and more lately. He put her up to tasks that she didn't want to do, _just_ like when he forced her to decide whether he should leave or stay, two years ago.

Inwardly, though Percy's heart was pounding; he found it incredibly unlikely that she'd be able to do it. Though, she could probably build something or think of a plan to do it artificially…or so Percy had to hope.

She glared at him, but didn't object. This was their best chance at escape, after all.

"Alrighty then," the tour stopped. "Of you go, lassie of Athena," he pushed her off.

"I'll go too," Bianca said, hopping off, along with her ghost friend. "To…keep an _eye_ on her," her bone-colored irises were daring Annabeth to challenge that, but she refused to give her the pleasure.

With that, the two girls headed toward the disgusting stables.

xxxXXXxxx

A few hours in, and Annabeth was drawing a blank. She'd taken the time to examine her surroundings. She knew she couldn't do it by hand within the time allotted; there was just too much work to be done. She spoke to the river naiad about letting her use the river to clean it, and that alone took an hour. Annabeth kept telling her that the river would heal, but her friend would die if she didn't get to use it.

Once she convinced the naiad to let her use the river, she started devising a plan to build up enough water. This was where she wished she was a daughter of Hephaestus. Then, she might've been able to build like a makeshift hose from the spare wood lying around or something crazy like that. She was always jealous of the children of Hephaestus.

Annabeth was given just a few materials to work with. Within twenty minutes, Eurytion came to deliver a pencil and a stack of graph paper. He said that her boyfriend said she might need them, and she silently thanked that idiot for helping her map out her soon-to-be-made contraption.

Unfortunately, she was never very good at designing tools. She focused on buildings, not the things it took to make buildings, you know?

Annabeth crumpled up and tossed away another sketch, with half of her time gone. "Aw, poor little Annabeth," Bianca teased. "You ready to give up?"

"Ignoring you still," Annabeth claimed, though she knew it wasn't true. Bianca had been giving running commentary about how doomed she was and about how she had no idea what she was dealing with.

"Ooh, look at you; matching your pride against your fear…or trying to," the younger girl smirked. "You know you can't do this, so why bother trying? A smart girl like you should be focusing on more important things."

"Could you be quiet for, like, a _minute_ at least?"

"Hm?" Bianca grinned. It was cute; Annabeth could see why Percy would have been tricked by it. "Why would I do that, silly?"

"…You know, Percy said when you mocked him that it was all in good fun."

"Well yeah, but I _like_ him. He's a hero. You, on the other hand…"

"What?"

"Well, let's just say that it's pretty sad to see a demigod cower in fear at the sight of a single monster," she mocked the girl. Annabeth went silent. "I mean, jeez, even that sorry camp you seem to care so much about doesn't like you; probably because they realized how spineless you are."

"Shut up," Annabeth warned.

"Oh, did I strike a nerve?" for a split second, Bianca seemed genuinely sorry. "Well, if you ask me, Percy would be better off leaving you here. He'd be better off with me. For one, I can actually defend myself."

"You don't know a _damn_ thing you're talking about!" Annabeth snapped as she stood and faced the girl. Bianca didn't look intimidated. She just kept giving her cute smile.

"Well don't worry; you won't be going back to those bad campers again," she said it like Annabeth was five. Then, Bianca's smile stretched just a bit wider than before. Somehow, it changed the impression from cute to…something much darker. "You'll be going somewhere much worse; I'll make it so."

Annabeth stepped back, disturbed. Then, before her eyes, Bianca returned to her normal self, giggling and twirling blades of grass in her fingers because she was bored. For a moment, though, she had turned into something else. For just a second, Annabeth had to wonder what the hell her trip down to the Labyrinth, or wherever she went after she left camp, did to her.

Annabeth shook her head and sat back down, resuming her sketches. She couldn't afford to be distracted.

Finally, she went to work, forming a rudimentary dam exactly as she had sketched it. The naiad even helped, when she heard that it was the life of a son of Poseidon at stake. Annabeth conveniently "forgot" to mention that Percy hadn't been claimed, so the naiad was very helpful with the flow of the river.

Soon, though, it was clear that no matter what plan she'd cooked up, she wouldn't be able to clean the whole stable in time. That fact was made evident when her dam leaked, and then cracked, and then shattered, because of a miscalculation.

With no other options and with just a few hours left, Annabeth picked up a brush, and started cleaning manually. With her dam broken, she knew she would never complete this task, but she figured she'd do what she could. If Geryon was in a good mood when she returned, she might be able to get partial credit and save Percy's life or something.

While she was cleaning, she overheard Bianca talk to her ghost friend. "No, I'm not gonna kill her yet," she said to the ghost.

"Ah, you wish to see her suffer? Good taste," he said.

"Yeah, something like that," Bianca claimed. "I still need her, if I'm going to become the Ghost King and...huh...what was I gonna do after that?" she wondered to herself. "Must've not been important."

"Yes, of course," the ghost sucked up to her, and she seemed to enjoy it.

"Remind me again what we need to do?"

"Well, your arena plan is sound; we need as many souls and deaths as possible."

"Cool...hey, maybe if the arena isn't enough, I can take a few of those Hunters for wasting my time."

"Tall ambitions, Mistress," the ghost said approvingly. "Then I promise that I will do what I can to-"

"I know, Minos; you've told me already," Bianca interrupted him. "Speaking of, how's progress on the earth guy?"

"He has agreed to your terms, on the grounds that he gets a good show."

"Oh, he will," Bianca said. "And you're sure this'll work, Minos?"

"Of course," Minos assured. "Trust me; I know _exactly_ how to break a man…or a girl."

"Sweet!" Bianca exclaimed, before stopping herself. "Oops, we should probably not talk so loud."

"Of course."

Annabeth, to this day, couldn't be sure of whether Bianca let her hear that bit of information intentionally. With how things ultimately played out, she's inclined to believe "no," but with Bianca, she couldn't be sure.

In any case, Annabeth was out of time. She stood from her half-finished work and walked away smelling like Pegasus shit. Bianca and Minos followed close behind her.

Annabeth was tempted to try and escape them, as Bianca, it seemed, was unarmed and the other guy was just a spectral being with no physical form. Then she remembered that Bianca was a child of Hades, and recalled that she could summon, like, forty years of darkness, earthquakes, volcanoes, and cause the dead to rise from their graves…generally cause mass hysteria. So she decided against pissing her off, though Annabeth seemed to do that just by existing.

Soon, the ranch came into view, and then it got closer. Annabeth entered to see Percy in chains, ready to be shipped off to Kronos. And if he was captured, she doubted that Luke would spare him if he stayed on the opposite side; he was too powerful.

"Ah, the little lassie is back," Geryon said. "And how did it go?"

Percy looked at Annabeth hopefully, but she had none to spare. "…I couldn't do it…" she returned quietly. "I only cleaned half of it…"

"Oh, well isn't that just a shame. I s'pose I'll just have to go forward with things as planned, then," he waved it off.

"Annabeth…" Percy looked shocked, or…no, he looked almost disappointed. "I thought…" She walked over to him and just hugged him. She didn't want to talk.

"Don't you two get too comfortable now," Geryon said. "Because we're fixin' to head out for delivery."

"Actually," Bianca spoke up. "Change of plans," she announced.

"Hm?" Geryon turned to her, confused. "I don't recall any 'change' that was run by me."

"Well that's because it wasn't, stupid," she smiled. "But they don't really strike me as going quietly, right guys?" she asked the questers, but they were just as confused as the ranch owner was.

"Look, little lassie," Geryon warned. "If y'all is feeling like getting' in my way, then Eurytion here will-"

Bianca giggled. "Oh yeah, twelve on two and two of mine are basically immortal too," she said as she snapped her fingers. "Minos."

"Yes, Mistress," the ghost replied as he waved his hand, and four of the skeletons moved on Geryon, while seven more moved on Eurytion, while the last used its weapon to break Percy's restraints. Soon, the ranch house was a war zone.

"What the hell is going on?!" Annabeth demanded.

"No idea! Let's get out of here!" Percy grabbed her hand and dashed out the door right as three of the skeletons ran through each of Geryon's chests, and the fighting ceased.

"Hey! Where are you two going?" Bianca called after them, but they didn't stop, just ran straight for the Labyrinth entrance they came in.

Soon, they were enveloped in the same darkness from before, with the string leading them far away from Triple G Ranch.

Back _at_ the ranch, Eurytion was given permission to live and serve as the new master, because Geryon was kinda…dead. The warrior never seemed to care much for the monster anyway.

Bianca and Minos stood at the entrance to the Labyrinth. "Mistress, if I may ask; why did you have me free the demigods? Why let them get away?"

"Oh, you know…"

"No, I don't. We could have taken them with us; how do you know they'll go where you want?"

"The Labyrinth isn't as complicated as you'd think," Bianca claimed. "It has certain masters, or…'landlords' is maybe the right word? Whatever it is, there are a lot of powerful people with pull over the Labyrinth. Our 'earth guy' is one of them. He'll draw them to him, just like Janus drew them, and then Geryon drew them. Hell, just like the Minotaur drew Theseus to it back in myth."

"I see…I still think it would have been better to take them in chains," Minos commented.

"Yeah well," Bianca began to envelop them in darkness to travel to their 'earth guy' directly. "You've got to let them have some hope in order to shatter it for fun."

 **Author's Note:**

 **So...that was a bit disturbing to reread...wow...**

 **I forgot how depressing this chapter is...and the next one doesn't go much better, but hey, it'll have a gigantic movie reference, so that's always fun.**

 **Anyway fun fact! This was originally two separate chapters, split when Bianca said "Get them!" but I ultimately decided to fuse them so as not to skimp you guys on content. Not to mention, now I'll have this nice little dual chapter title thing that kind of flows...I don't know.**

 **Anyway, thanks so much for reading, and please let me know what you think in a review!**


	42. And Then It Is Destroyed

Camp Half-Blood had been rather peaceful since the questers left; not that it hadn't been while they were there, but so far, no sneak attack had been attempted. Only a few of the cabins took Annabeth's plea to prepare seriously. Thankfully, two of them were Hephaestus and Athena, so they at least had a store of weapons and plans for when they were going to be inevitably attacked.

The only thing still unexplained was the whole Oracle business. Winona basically slept at the infirmary, as no matter what she did, Rachel wouldn't wake up from her slumber. It'd been nearly two weeks since she had her Oracle fit, and there'd been no response.

She'd opened her eyes a couple times, but not to see. She never fully woke up, just listed back into unconsciousness…until now.

Winona was about to fall asleep herself, when the shock came. Rachel's eyes suddenly burst open, and she violently lurched up to sit, screaming one name as she did. One name which she'd been having visions about in her sleep.

"Pan!"

xxxXXXxxx

Percy and Annabeth trekked silently through the Labyrinth for what felt like hours. Percy went first, with Riptide drawn. It's faint light was the only thing allowing him to see the string ball that led them safely through the maze. In his other hand was Annabeth's own.

Neither of them were really sure what to say. Eventually, Percy did speak. "…Not to belabor a point, but…" he was cautious. "We were just made into total pushovers."

"I know," Annabeth returned quietly. "Let's just…not talk about it, okay?"

"But Annabeth, if we don't-"

"Percy," she warned.

"All I'm saying is; we should have a plan for when we run into them next," he returned. "You said you don't like improvising, right?"

Annabeth took a deep breath. "Yeah…yeah, I did. Alright, what are we gonna talk about?"

"Well, I was thinking-"

"Why did you volunteer me to clean the stables?" she questioned.

"What? I-"

"You knew I couldn't do it," she continued. "We should've just tried to escape using something else. Instead, we wasted a whole day."

"Annabeth, I…" Percy craned his neck. "I just thought…" he stopped himself. "That's not on topic. We'll talk about it after the quest, alright?"

Annabeth was at first a bit insulted that he'd put it off, but then she realized how strangely down-to-Earth he was being by saying it. "You're right, sorry, I-"

"It's fine," he said it so resoundingly. "So…Bianca let us go. Why?"

"It's because she's into you," Annabeth suggested. "She said you'd have been better off with her."

"Well, _she_ doesn't know what she's talking about," Percy said quickly, to prove that those were his true thoughts.

Annabeth smiled. She was glad he stayed so loyal to her; it was why she stayed loyal to him. "That's what I told her too," she said. Then she remembered what else Bianca said. "Percy…you don't…think I'm weak, do you? You don't think I can't handle myself, right?"

The son of Poseidon didn't respond for a second, which worried Annabeth. "I think you're _way_ more capable than me," he answered finally. "I mean, you were chosen for this quest for a reason, after all."

Annabeth expected to feel something other than a gaping sadness when he said that. She should have been happy that he didn't believe that she was helpless, but…and it wasn't like he was lying. His words were sincere. But even then, Annabeth could only feel an overwhelming sadness. Percy believed in her…and she let him down…she'll never forget the disappointment she saw in him at the ranch.

"Hey, do you hear that?" Percy questioned. Annabeth stopped lamenting herself and listened. Whatever it was, it sounded like a dull roar. As they kept walking, the roar got louder, and a bit more distinct. It sounded like the roar of an audience.

Soon, that roar was matched by a growing light. The ball stopped, as it did whenever they reached an exit point or otherwise new event. Annabeth picked it up and put it in their pack. Then, the two demigods exited the Labyrinth. Unlike with the Triple G Ranch, the exit wasn't a slope upwards, but a straight path. They exited to the roar of a huge crowd.

Ahead of them was a battle finishing up. A lone man fighting a horde of monsters, and he was winning. With a final slash, the last monster exploded into dust. The man was drenched with sweat and was panting from exertion. Annabeth recognized him.

"Ethan?" she questioned. "Ethan Nakamura?"

"Who?" Percy wondered.

"He's the demigod child of Nemesis, who joined Kronos' army. He was almost on par with Luke in sword combat when he left."

"…Who?"

"He's the one who captured me back on Polyphemus' island!"

"…Alright, even if I knew who he was, I think the better question is 'why is the crowd just a bunch of corpses?'"

Sure enough, when Annabeth looked, she saw that the bystanders were in various forms of decay, though most were at least rotting at the head. In fact, they looked like Annabeth imagined zombies would look, only they seemed really interested in whatever gladiatorial match was going on.

Ethan turned to them with an intense eye (his other one he had given as tribute to his godly parent). He readied his sword. Percy, who still had Riptide out, readied his own blade. "Ethan, I don't want to fight you," Percy said.

" _But you want to fight everyone,"_ Riptide commented.

" _Not this guy. Annabeth said he's good."_

" _So?"_ Riptide questioned. " _That hasn't stopped you before. Hell, you charged the strongest Cyclops without a second thought!"_

" _He killed my brother!"_

" _Well, if you don't fight him, he'll kill your girl."_

It turns out, though, that Percy wouldn't have to fight the rogue demigod, as the earth swallowed him. Literally. A crack formed in the ground, and Percy was sucked up, and popped back out somewhere else. That "somewhere else" just so happened to be at the top of the arena, where the head bystander (or whatever they're called) would be. "What the…?" he started to wonder how he got there.

"Hey, Percy!" Bianca greeted him out of nowhere.

"Gah!" the son of Poseidon jumped at her voice. "Stop that! Stop sneaking up on me!" he demanded. She looked genuinely hurt.

"O-oh, I'm sorry, I just-"

"Where the hell are we? Why are you here? Why did you stop me from fighting? Why-"

"Hey, hey, hold your horses," she interrupted. "We're just gonna play a game!"

"A…game?"

"Percy! Where are you?!" Annabeth called.

Percy walked to the edge, where he saw Annabeth still in the ring with Ethan. "I'm up here!" Percy stepped up to the railing to jump out to help her, like he was supposed to, but then hands shot up from the ground and grabbed his arms, pulling him back and preventing him from moving. "What the hell?"

"Ah, ah, ah…I don't think I want you helping her, Percy," Bianca claimed. "You're just gonna sit here and watch."

"Watch what?" Percy questioned.

"Girl," another voice came from the shadows. This time, it was a man's, and he didn't sound happy. When Percy looked, he saw a dude that looked about ten feet tall, sitting on a throne of some kind. He looked like a king. "You promised me a show."

"Oh, trust me! You'll _get_ a show!" Bianca assured.

"You get one more match before I get angry."

"Good, because I only need one more kill before I'm satisfied too," she claimed as she went to the railing. "Alright, listen up, Ethan. You eighty-six the blonde bimbo in front of you, and you and your friend can go free!" she called down, gesturing to another boy, this one unconscious, wrapped up in ghostly hands from beneath the ground.

"What? No!" Percy objected. "Bianca, what the hell got into you? What happened in these six months?"

"Nothing much," she said, smiling.

"Like hell!" Percy argued.

Down in the arena, Ethan approached Annabeth after hearing Bianca's offer. There was no malice in his eyes, like the last time they met. There was only a melancholic acceptance. "Ethan, you don't have to do this," Annabeth claimed.

"No, I do," he returned. "You wouldn't understand."

"She has someone you care about, right?" Annabeth questioned, stepping back to get a little distance between them. "Percy is up there too. He can-"

"The boy couldn't save anyone in the state he's in," Ethan interrupted.

"'The state he's in?' What are you talking about?" Annabeth questioned. "He's back up to one-hundred percent."

"If he's at one hundred percent, then so are you," he challenged. "And given how you froze against a single monster, I'd say you aren't."

"W-what? How did you…?"

"I'm sure you're both still waking up in a cold sweat from what happened to you," Ethan continued. "I can't really blame you; I kept watch over you last winter a few times. I can't imagine anyone even standing after what they did to you. And that beating the son of Poseidon took too…anyway, I'll try and make this quick at least, so you don't have to be scared as long."

Annabeth grit her teeth. "I'm _not_ scared!" she insisted.

"Fine, lie to yourself; I don't care, but we have to fight. Draw your blade, or he'll kill all of us."

"Ethan…" Annabeth reluctantly drew her Oathkeeper. "I don't want to fight you. I don't want to fight another demigod."

"I don't care," Ethan raised his blade, and the two got into a skirmish. It was clear that Annabeth was going to lose, right from the very start. Not only was she out of practice, having purposefully avoided combat training since she got to camp, but her own anxiety, as her powerlessness set in during the fight, started slowing her down.

Annabeth was backed into a wall. Ethan raised his fist to punch her to the ground, and she flinched. " _No, don't flinch, you idiot! Block!"_ she yelled at herself as Ethan shot a fist into her jaw and sent her tumbling to the dirt.

"Annabeth, dodge!" Percy yelled from above, and she instinctually rolled out of the way, and now had Ethan in a corner. Up in the stands, Percy was struggling desperately against Bianca's ground hands that were keeping him in place. "Why?!" he demanded. "Why are you doing this?!" Bianca shrugged. "No! Don't just _shrug_!" he snapped. "Tell me!"

The ghost which was accompanying her got in Percy's face. "Do not speak to my Mistress in such a manner!"

"Shove it, astral ass!" Percy returned, even as the ghost's appearance freaked Percy the fuck out. " _You're_ not a part of this!"

"Oh, but I _am_! Whatever business my Mistress has with you is also _my_ business!" the ghost claimed.

"Calm down, Minos," Bianca said. "Don't get your knickers in a twist."

Reluctantly, the ghost settled down, but seemed to give Bianca as evil an eye as Percy, if not more so. "...Yes, my Mistress. I apologize."

"It's cool," Bianca returned.

"Answer my question!" Percy snapped. "I want to know why."

"Because, silly," she said, still having that sweet simper on her face. "It's only fair to take an eye for an eye."

"W…what?"

" _It's a metaphor,"_ Riptide explained.

" _I know it is, I'm questioning her reasoning,"_ Percy returned. "It was Atlas who killed your brother, not me!"

"Oh, I'm not taking it out of revenge," she said, tilting her head. Somehow, it gave her smile a more menacing look. "I'm taking it so you can match me! We'll be two of a pair then!"

"W-what are you-?"

Then, she dropped all pretenses, and her smile turned into a twisted grin. "You will be _mine_ , Percy Jackson. I will break you like I have been broken."

Percy was left speechless at that, but his trance was broken just as quickly as Bianca returned to her old self, as Annabeth was resoundingly beaten.

She put up a good fight though, for her mental state. With her combination of fear and rustiness, she lasted for a pretty long time. Still, eventually Ethan disarmed her. "W-wait," Annabeth stopped him from slitting her throat. "Before you go through with this…tell me why, and how."

"…" Ethan looked to consider it. "…We were captured. That daughter of Hades took us by surprise and sent us into the Labyrinth. Along the way, Chris, he…he…" Ethan didn't finish. "The next thing I know, I'm being forced to fight monsters," Ethan lowered his blade for a moment, but not his guard. Annabeth wasn't stupid enough to try anything. "I have to save him. It's my fault we got trapped down here, and why he became…maddened…"

"You…care a lot about your friends, don't you?" Annabeth tried to keep the conversation going. She kept silently hoping that Percy would break free sometime this century.

"…The one thing I care about is my fellow demigods, my allies. We should be in seats of power, daughter of Athena. We aren't weighed down by birth, by right, as much by merit. We aren't like the gods, not like any mortals…not even like the Titans. And if a fellow demigod is in trouble, then I would do _anything_ to save them, even strike down an enemy demigod," Ethan raised his blade.

"W-wait!" Annabeth raised her hands; not that it would do any good. Ethan hesitated. It appeared his declaration wasn't as absolute as he made it out to be.

"Kill her!" the voice from the shadows demanded.

"Yeah, kill her!" Bianca piped in.

"No! Don't!" Percy yelled. Ethan hesitated, but reared back his blade to strike. "No!"

Percy felt his anger surge, and with it, his power. He broke free of Bianca's bindings with pure willpower, and summoned enough water to force everyone back so he could leap into the arena unabated. He drew Riptide and clashed with Ethan as he swung down with the intent to kill Annabeth.

Percy forced his blade up and pushed the son of Nemesis back. Ethan, while surprised at the new challenger, quickly regained his footing (both figuratively and literally), before he launched a counterattack, forcing Percy back to Annabeth.

"Percy!"

"Stay behind me!" Percy ordered.

"But…" Annabeth couldn't help but be unnerved by Ethan's claim about Percy's lack of strength. Still, she could really only watch on as the two sword masters duked it out.

Percy soon found himself on the defensive, being forced against a wall. He tried to kick off of the wall to regain control and pull off a comeback, but Ethan side-stepped and continued pressing. " _What the hell is wrong with you?!"_ Riptide yelled in his head. " _I_ know _this isn't your limit!"_

" _Shut up!"_ Percy yelled back, rolling out of the way of one of Ethan's slashes, and having to block another before he could get to his feet.

" _Hell, you fought better when you sparred with that old geezer back at camp!"_

While the words did infuriate Percy, they weren't untrue. He had already resigned himself to lose this fight, even before it began. He was really only fighting because of his impulsive actions to protect Annabeth. If it had been any other circumstance, he wouldn't have fought.

"You can't beat me, Percy," Ethan claimed. "Just give up and accept your fate."

Percy actually considered it. " _No!"_ he mentally slapped himself. " _You have to keep fighting!"_

" _Damn straight you do!"_ Riptide snapped. " _All you need is one good opening!"_

And he soon got one. It was lucky, but either Ethan didn't know of Percy's powers, or he figured that he was too weak to use them still. The son of Nemesis left himself open for Percy to blast him away with a jet of self-made water.

As Ethan was getting up, Percy got his blade up to the boy's throat. Ethan stopped moving, so as not to slit his own throat accidentally. Again, there wasn't any emotion in his eyes other than acceptance. "…Fine…go ahead…" he muttered.

"Percy, wait!" Annabeth called. "He doesn't deserve this. He wasn't fighting out of choice."

"He tried to kill you!" Percy argued.

"Please!" Annabeth pleased.

"Get it over with…" Ethan muttered.

Percy was going to go it…but he hesitated. " _What's the holdup? You've killed people before…well, not another demigod, but still…"_ Riptide muttered.

" _But…Annabeth doesn't want him dead. She might know something that I don't."_

" _Well, this ends with either one of you killing the other, or…maybe one of you conceding? Shot in the dark?"_

" _How do I make him concede?"_

" _Um…I think I have an idea…act confident, and repeat after me."_

Percy listened for a moment, and then realized what Riptide was planning. It was a crazy, stupid, fucking idiotic plan…but that was what made it work.

"Alright; here's the situation. Normally, your ass would be deader than fuckin' fried chicken, but you happened to catch me in a transitional period. So I don't want to kill you, Ethan, I want to help you. But I can't let you kill either me or that blonde over there, alright? We've seen too much fucked up shit together to just let you kill our asses…"

"Your consent isn't an issue," Ethan almost tried to attack, but Percy moved his blade a little bit closer to his neck to stop him.

"Ah, ah, ah…I wasn't done…you read the Bible? The Christian one?"

"…We're Greek, Percy. Of course I-"

"Good, because neither did I. But I do have this one passage memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. 'The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and _furious_ anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.' I've been saying that shit for years; not that you'd know since you left. If you _ever_ heard it, it meant your ass, but I never really questioned what it meant. But last winter, and last summer, I saw some shit that made me think twice. See, now I'm thinking…you're the evil man, and I'm the righteous man, and Mr. Leaf-design right here," Percy forced Riptide a bit closer to Ethan's neck, to where it made just the tiniest cut; just enough of one to hurt. "She's the shepherd guiding my righteous ass through the valley of darkness. Or it could mean…that you're the righteous man, and I'm the shepherd, and it's the world around us, the one we were born into, that's evil and selfish…Now I'd like that…but that shit ain't the truth. You want to know what the truth is?"

Throughout the speech, Ethan had slowly become less antagonistic; less accepting and more questioning. He was genuinely curious. "…Yes."

"See the truth is that you…are the weak…and I…am the tyranny of evil men," Percy claimed. "But I'm trying, Ethan…I'm trying real _hard_ …to be…the shepherd," Percy lowered his blade to his side, and waited for Ethan to do something. "Your move, chief."

" _Hey, nice extra movie quote there at the end,"_ Riptide complimented.

Ethan then made his decision. He dropped his sword. "I…give up," he announced.

" _Whoa, did we actually just beat him with a movie reference?"_ Percy questioned.

" _It would appear so."_

"… _You're a fucking genius, Riptide."_

" _I know."_

Bianca was left stunned when Percy broke free and leapt into the arena. She only watched. "He…left me…He left…to fight for…her…" she muttered. It was around this time that something fundamentally broke within the girl. She started giggling that same disturbing way she had right before she left camp the previous winter.

"Rragh!" they all heard a roar from above, as the man in the shadows leapt up to his feet. "This is an outrage! You are desolating the glory of _my_ arena!" he disappeared into the ground he was standing on, and reappeared from the ground inside the arena. The guy looked like he was made of a sunbaked earthen material; almost like a mesa.

" _If you want a good fight; just fight us yourself!"_ Riptide yelled in Percy's head. " _Tell him that."_

" _Fuck no, I'm not saying that!"_ Percy snapped back as he stepped back. This guy radiated power, like Atlas had, only to a much smaller degree. Still, just feeling that type of presence again brought back bad memories…feelings of total uselessness.

"Who're you?" Ethan questioned. "You've been watching us this whole time."

The earthen man smirked, and it looked like he hadn't bushed his teeth since…well, since toothbrushes were invented. He clearly thought that he was a big deal. "I am Antaeus; son of Poseidon the earthshaker!"

That made Percy even more disturbed. The dude looked like a cross between a Laistrygonian Giant, dirt, and bacon grease. How could Poseidon produce such an abomination.

"Percy; he's the son of Gaea too," Annabeth called, getting some help from Ethan. "Be careful!"

"Who the hell said I was fighting this asshole?" Percy questioned, though he didn't really didn't get much of a choice in the matter. The dude charged while only armed with his thick, meaty hands, swiping at Percy in a motion that he _definitely_ was too big to actually pull off. Still, he did. It nearly took Percy's head off, but due to months of him having to defend his neck for fear of…the incident repeating, Percy had the reflexes necessary to avoid it. Luckily, this also left Antaeus wide open for a counterattack, and Percy took full advantage of it, tearing Riptide across the monster's abdomen. The demigod expected a sea of blood to rain onto him, but nothing ever came out. In fact, the wound he created had healed as fast as Percy made it, with his skin closing right as Riptide passed through.

Percy leapt back, stunned, and slightly terrified, of this revelation. "…Run? Run," he agreed with himself. "Run!"

He and Annabeth ran for the exit, but before they could make it through, a mound of mud piled up and blocked it off, cutting them off in turn. Meanwhile, Ethan started climbing the top and pushed past the dead bystanders to where another man was wrapped in dead hands, which Ethan promptly cut with his retrieved sword, before hoisting the boy onto his back.

Meanwhile, Percy and Annabeth were left to deal with this…thing that was threatening them. Antaeus was grinning down on them evilly, as if imagining all of the horrible ways he would kill them. Percy's mind raced at a mile a minute, trying to think of anything to pull out of his ass at that moment, but with the positioning, nothing was possible but a straight-up fight, which they couldn't win.

Percy glanced back at Annabeth, whose legs were shaking like a leaf, as they had during her confrontation with Ethan. If Percy had to guess, she was at about half or less of her normal combat efficiency in her state.

With no other choice, Percy charged Antaeus himself. The two exchanged a furious echange of slashes and punches, but it was clear that Percy was on the losing side, as he was the first to leave himself open to get knocked away. Antaeus' punch to Percy's chest didn't hurt nearly as bad as Atlas', in that it didn't incapacitate him and make him lose all hope, but that would come from Antaeus soon enough.

Even if the blow wasn't as bad as the Titan's, it still hurt like hell, and Percy struggled to stand after it. "You are the Cruel Spider, no?" Antaeus questioned. "The one who struck fear into the souls of monsters?"

"Yeah, I am," Percy tried to sound more confident than he felt. He knew that he wouldn't win this fight.

" _Dude,_ stop _thinking that way, and maybe you'll win!"_ Riptide formed a pressure behind the boy's eye as Antaeus mocked him.

"They were either all fools or all weaklings. Probably both," Antaeus claimed. "You are just like all the others, thinking they're worth something when they're not."

"Shut up," Percy warned.

"It's no wonder father despises you," Antaeus continued. Percy charged him sloppily out of rage, and was easily swatted away, towards Annabeth. "You are _nothing_. You have always been _nothing_! You will _never_ gain father's blessing for as long as you live. So I will put you out of your misery myself, for father's sake. He has no need for a son like you," Antaeus said as he slowly approached them. The words struck Percy hard, harder than any of the monster's physical attacks. Percy dropped his sword to his side.

" _Maybe…it_ would _be better to just give up…"_ he thought to himself, only to have Riptide pressure him further.

" _Snap out of it! He's playing you!"_ it snapped.

"Percy…" Annabeth wasn't even sure what to say. The only other time she'd seen him like this was when he was being brutalized by Atlas, and even then, the situation prevented him from being this…depressed. After that, he'd tried to act strong, for Annabeth's own sake, and it seemed that well of strength had run dry just then.

But…no, he wasn't being strong. He could accomplish so much, and yet he did so little to help himself. For the first time, Annabeth considered that Percy had just wallowed away in his own self-hatred for six whole months without even trying to help himself. He left camp to run away from this life. That should've been her first sign. But on this quest, he volunteered for Annabeth to clean the stables, because he was too scared to try it himself, for his fear of failure, and now this. He was giving up again.

"Put your fucking sword up!" she snapped. Percy didn't. "Percy!" she called his name, but he didn't respond. He'd already resigned himself to his fate. Actually, he _did_ lift his hand up, but only to stare at those four letters which signified his most egregious failures. STNA…

" _I'm sorry…"_ Percy closed his eyes, waiting for the end.

Up above, sensing Percy's own despair, Bianca fell further into madness. Her frantic giggling gave way to full on psychotic laughter, with the dead audience laughing along with her. It felt so insulting to Percy, but at this point, he didn't really care. Beside her, Minos smirked. "Ah, finally I've broken you," he muttered to the girl, though she didn't hear him; she was so consumed in her own laughter.

Before Antaeus could deliver the finishing blow, however, he was kicked in the back by Ethan, who dashed to his mud wall that had blocked the demigods' exit. He pressed his hand to the wall, and a…force, rippled from his palm. Then the wall melted away into the ground. "Come on!" he snapped at the questers.

"Impossible!" Antaeus roared. "How did you do that?!"

Ethan gave the beast a fierce one-eyed stare. "Payback's a bitch, monster."

Annabeth tugged on Percy's arm and, despite himself, he allowed her to pull him through the entrance just as Antaeus reached for them. He was far too tall and wide to fit through the entrance.

Annabeth quickly threw out the ball of string. "Lead us back to camp!" she pleaded, though she highly doubted that it would work. This was just about the worst situation she could be in right now. She just utterly lost against another demigod, further proving to herself that she was a worthless sack of shit, only to then have to flee from the true threat of the encounter alongside that very same demigod, all without any certainty that the ball wasn't just going to lead them to another trap.

Still, she kept running. Run away was all she could do anymore, it seemed.

xxxXXXxxx

Bianca's psychotic break slowly dialed down to quiet manic giggles. She was still effectively broken, on a fundamental level it seemed, but it was no longer a violent outburst. She was just in her own little world now. Still, she didn't lose sense of herself, through the break. In fact, upon realizing just what kind of monster she'd let herself become, or let Minos twist her into, her manic giggles turned to sobs, as tears ran down her face.

A bit of explanation:

After she fled from camp, Bianca started experimenting with her powers, which she soon found were well beyond her capability to control. The most she was able to do, under very controlled circumstances, was call upon the wisdom of the dead. And she just so happened to luck out and summon Minos.

He had promised to help her attain control over her newfound abilities and teach her how to eventually use them to do…something. Minos explained that, to do this, she had to become the Ghost King, and the methods to obtain that title were…sketchy at best.

The easiest way, Bianca found, was to enter the Labyrinth, which she was able to traverse using shadow-travel; a handy little trick she picked up. There, they'd met Antaeus, who wished only for a bloodbath, which happened to be exactly what they needed to form a physical crown which would name one the Ghost King, and give them total command over the dead that were summoned.

"Foolish girl," Minos chided, floating around her. "You truly thought I would let _you_ , an amateur, attain the crown? Ha! You were just barely suitable as my pawn. Still, I suppose it _was_ fun, slowly twisting and turning and breaking your mind from the inside. As time went on, you'd even forgotten why you summoned me!"

Bianca tried to think back, even in her half-sane state. She couldn't remember.

"Even I wasn't sure how low you would stoop in her madness, but I must say I'm disappointed; to be engrossed with that pathetic child of the sea god. Ha!"

"Rragh!" Antaeus leapt up onto the platform, and got into Bianca's face, still believing her to be the one in control. "You little bitch! You promised me a show! This is only been a disaster!"

"Oh…" Minos smirked. "I do believe we never got our final kill," he pat Bianca on the shoulder, and her sobs altered again to her Joker-like giggles. From here on, they switched back and forth. "Be a dear for me; get my final sacrifice please."

Bianca flexed her fingers, in her final order from Minos to her, and dead hands shot from the ground and entangled Antaeus. They lifted him well off the ground.

"W-what?!" Antaeus roared. "No! You will not defeat me! I am the greatest! I am the strongest!"

"You are _nothing_!" Minos hissed as Bianca summoned one of hand from the ground. This one was different from the others; this one seemed to be made of pure darkness, as if the shadows left the wall to bend to Bianca's broken will. Bianca thrust her hand forward, and then Antaeus ceased moving. His blood leaked onto the coveted object that Minos sought, with it slowly taking the full shape of a crown. Before, when they used the sacrifices, it only momentarily took this form, but now that it was complete, it retained it. Bianca dropped to her knees, and then to her side. She wasn't tired, but she had no energy to spare, if that made sense.

She just kept giggling to herself, and then sobbed to herself.

Minos, after completely disregarding her, reached for the crown. As he did, his form of mist began shimmering and solidifying. Once his hand was fully placed upon the object, he actually had legs on the ground. Once the crown was on his head, he looked to be made of flesh once again, though it was all a lie; it would disappear if the crown were to be removed.

"Yes, finally! I am skin, muscle, veins, blood! Hahaha!" he cackled. Soon, he left into the Labyrinth, seeking out its master. He left the broken Bianca behind.

xxxXXXxxx

Satyr hooves clopped up Half-Blood Hill, until Grover Underwood overlooked the valley which he loved. He stared at it quizzically.

He'd been searching for Pan pretty much nonstop since he obtained his Searcher's License two years ago. He'd had highs and lows, but always had a lead. He kept travelling and travelling, mostly going on autopilot as he followed his nature sense toward the area with the most of Pan's essence or trail. So then, he had to ask one question.

"Why did it lead me back to Camp Half-Blood?"

 **Author's Note:**

 **I forgot how much of a clusterfuck this chapter was, but oh well. Unfortunately, I really had to introduce a lot of stuff this chapter, with no really good way to do it, so I apologize if this particular one seemed a bit scatter-brained.**

 **But hey, more content is more content.**

 **Anyhoo, I told you guys that it would get more disturbing, so...what'd you think?**

 **actually, before I sign off, I'm gonna share what I think would be a good character song for Bianca, since this was kind of her last big hoorah for a while...and by "horrah" I mean complete mental breakdown. Anyhoo, for her song, I'm thinking "Kuusou Mesorogiwi", the first opening of Mirai Nikki (Future Diaries). The title is translated as "Fantasy Mythology", but that's not important. The version I'm going with, as well, is an English version by TYERecords on YouTube, so there you go. So first off, the beginning reads off a whole bunch of Olympian gods (in their Roman forms), before delving into this absolutely horrific verse about a horrible fate we're all destined for and how the gods doom us to it and how nothing we do matters and...anyway, the middle doesn't really matter in terms of words, pertaining to Bianca anyway, but that last past after the chorus (in the TV-size version anyway) is really important, especially for those last two lines, which does at least give us a happy resolution. Hint, hint for Bianca.**

 **Anyway, the real reason I chose this was because I decided early on that I was going to make Bianca go absolutely in-fucking-sane so I can somehow have her claw her way back to just being sane by the end, and this song, I feel, is a good representation of that. Also, I couldn't reveal her song in Titan's Curse because...then you guys would know what direction I was taking her so...yeah**

 **Anyway, let me know what you thought of the chapter in a review!**


	43. The Burdened Confronts The Distraught

After a while of running non-stop, the group slowed down to a brisk walk. All of them were quiet. Percy was still…Annabeth wasn't even sure what to call it, but he wasn't talking. Quite honestly, she didn't want to talk to him either; he'd left both of them to die back there. What kind of hero does that? Needless to say, she was pissed.

Ethan was quiet as well. Annabeth wouldn't trust him, for obvious reasons. She kept him in front, with her knife at his back, but he didn't complain. He never tried to run away, and never objected. He just kept following the string just like the questers. It bothered Annabeth that he would do this, and she still had a couple questions about his actions back in Antaeus' arena.

"Why are you sticking with us?" she asked him. "You could have taken off at the last five intersections."

"Don't know," he claimed, still carrying Chris Rodriguez on his back.

"Don't bullshit me," Annabeth warned.

"Can it, damsel," Ethan threatened. Instinctively, Annabeth flinched, only to mentally slap herself for doing so. The son of Nemesis chuckled.

"Don't laugh at me."

"Why? I think it's funny that you try so hard," he said, his voice turning deadly serious. "Give up the act, and you _might_ be able to make it until Kronos fully rises. Then you're all dead anyway."

"And what about you? You don't think the Titan Lord will just discard all of the rogue demigods?"

"No, I don't," Ethan said.

Annabeth had nothing to say to that other than "why" and she knew she wasn't going to get a straight answer from that. "…You never answered my question. Why are you still here, with us, going back to camp?"

Surprisingly, the boy gave a straight answer. "…I suppose I'm repaying a favor," he explained. "Percy spared my life; only seems right to repay the favor."

"Excessive honoring of promises and debts is Luke's fatal flaw, not yours. I want a real reason," she claimed.

"And that _was_ a real reason. Not everything about a demigod is determined by their godly parent," Ethan stated. "You know, it's shit like that that reminds me why I left your pathetic camp. Your lives are dictated entirely by who your parent is, and what that means for you. It's insulting."

Annabeth bit her lip. She wanted to argue against that, but it was true in a way. While every camper had to do the same chores and follow the same rules, most of the events were directed towards certain few cabins and a lot of your initial reputation at camp was based on who your parent was. Like how if someone was claimed by Demeter, so few people would talk about them or rush to be their friend compared to say Thalia, daughter of Zeus. Still, their entire lives weren't dictated by that…or so Annabeth would like to think.

"Well what about what you did back at the arena? Did you get Gaea's blessing or something?"

Ethan seemed to relax at the question. "Yeah, that…it's what I got for my eye," he explained. "It's pretty useless, only ever useable in specific situations. Basically, I get revenge on someone using their own powers. Antaeus kept me down there to fight against my will, so I got revenge by lowering his mud wall thing."

"Sounds…complicated," Annabeth said. "And wasn't it the bitch that kept you there?"

"At first, but Antaeus stopped any of my attempts to get Chris…before you two screwed the pooch with him anyway."

"Yeah, whatever…"

The rest of the trip was silent. Truth be told, they had no idea where they were going, but eventually, they saw moonlight seep into the Labyrinth, and they came out, miraculously, back at Zeus' Fist. The lesser ball of string had actually led them where they wanted to go.

Annabeth sheathed her knife. "So…where do you go from here?" she asked the traitor.

"…" he didn't respond. He just started walking, right toward the camp. Percy and Annabeth followed.

"Annabeth…" Percy muttered her name. She tried to ignore him. "Brighteyes," he said her nickname.

"What?" Annabeth didn't even try to hide the frustration in her voice. Percy hesitated at the tone.

"I'm…sorry…"

"…" Annabeth didn't want to make him feel any worse, but she was also still absolutely pissed off at the prick for giving up and running away. "…'Sorry' doesn't even begin cover it," she said finally, as they approached the dining pavilion. Percy flinched at the words.

It turns out that it was dinnertime, as the pavilion was full. However, once someone saw who was approaching, everyone stood.

"Traitor!" Clarisse yelled at Ethan.

"Get him!" Sherman agreed, though Clarisse bashed the back of his head for speaking out.

"I'll take any punishment you'll give me," Ethan called out to Chiron. "But I want Chris to be taken care of. He got roughed up really bad."

Chiron blinked at the request. He waited a long time to give his answer. "…Michael," he said the kid's name.

"Oh come on!" the shorty complained. "Why do I gotta help that traitor asshole?!"

"Mike, please," Ethan pleaded.

The boy grumbled and growled under his breath as he stood. "Fine, whatever. Win,"

"Y-yes?" she jumped when he said her name.

"You got the redhead from now on then, got it?"

"A-alright," the smaller girl agreed, Michael, despite his size, was strong enough to heft Chris onto his own back and carry him off, all the while complaining because he didn't get to finish his smothered burrito.

Chiron stood with celery stick in hand. "You all should return to your business," he called to the rest of the campers, and then pointed at the questers and Ethan. "You three will come with me."

Soon, the four of them were in the Big House. Ethan had his weapons and armor confiscated, and his hands bound for safety's sake, though Annabeth doubted that he'd be dumb enough to fight off two demigods (however damaged physically and mentally) and the legendary Chiron unarmed. Heck, he probably wouldn't try anything even with his sword.

"Tell me of your quest. Were you successful?"

"…No," Annabeth felt ashamed saying it.

"Then are you taking this as a failure?"

Annabeth nodded. "…I think this whole thing was a waste of time," she claimed, bitterness etched into her words. "We accomplished nothing and we come back with nothing but broken spirits…"

"…We were doomed from the start," Percy agreed. "There was no way we could do it."

Chiron almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. These were two of his most proud, stubborn, and powerful demigods of this generation, and here they were, wallowing in their own failures and insecurities. Still, Chiron knew there was nothing he could do or say to change their minds. He figured they'd already tried that, and it didn't work.

So instead he turned to Ethan. "You, why have you come back?"

Ethan looked up from staring at his hands. "…I needed to get my friend somewhere where he could recover. And the choker saved my life. I owed him at least enough to make sure they made it back here safely," he explained. "But don't get any ideas about me switching sides."

"I wasn't," Chiron claimed. "You'll be staying here, with me, so that I can keep an eye on you. Understood?"

"Whatever. I'm not going anywhere until Chris is healed."

"Good," Chiron stood. "You two," he addressed the questers. "You deserve rest. Go; you have tonight and tomorrow to yourselves."

Annabeth stood faster than Percy, eager to walk out. She exited without another word. Percy followed her out. "Annabeth," he grabbed her wrist. "Wait up."

She yanked her hand away. "Please don't touch me," she requested, though it sounded like more of a warning. It was this point that Percy began to get frustrated. As the conversation turned into an argument, Percy's frustration turned to full-out anger.

"Why are you angry with me?" he questioned. "I don't understand."

Annabeth gave him a look like 'are you kidding me?' "How do you not understand?" she returned. "You've been moping and doping for six goddamn months, Percy!"

"…" he turned away, knowing all too well the issue she was jabbing at.

" _I_ should be saying I don't understand. How can you go six months without ever trying to help yourself, or get help for your problems? You just let them build up and build up until they all burst and shatter you like it did back with Antaeus!"

Percy clenched his fists. "Who was I supposed to go to, Annabeth? You? We tried that, remember? You couldn't help me; no one could help me! In fact, I didn't need help, because this is only a problem when I'm forced into fights that I don't want to fight!"

"Heroes fight people, Percy. It's part of the job description!"

"Pft, you think I'm a hero? Give me a break; I've failed too many times to be called that. I don't deserve it; I _never_ deserved it. And I'm _through_ trying to play that part. I'm _done_ being the hero," Percy crossed his arms and turned away. Annabeth kept giving him an incredulous look.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing. What the hell happened to you? You used to relish at the challenge of the latest monster. You used to laugh in the face of death and you itched all the time to go on quests. Now you're just…you've turned into a damn coward."

"Fine, then let me be one," he growled. "But I'm _never_ going through what happened last winter again. I can't-" his voice caught just at the mention of it. He swallowed.

"No, I _won't_ just let you be one! Because while you're acting like this, you're forcing _me_ into things that I can't do!"

The commotion soon attracted a larger crowd, including Grover, who had been staying in the nearby forest with his special friend Juniper. "Oh no, not this again…" he moaned upon seeing them arguing.

"Like what?" Percy demanded.

"Like the damn stables! You _knew_ I couldn't clean them, and yet you _elected_ me?!" Annabeth's vicious snaps turned into full-on yelling. The nearby campers, meandering after dinner, stopped to listen to the drama. "Damnit, Percy, you can do so much but you choose to just be this pathetic, petulant, idiotic fucking tool!"

"Oh, don't give me that 'I choose' bullshit, alright? I didn't 'choose' to be the son of Poseidon. I didn't goddamn 'choose' to be the chosen demigod of the Great Prophecy. In fact, whenever I've gotten to 'choose' something is when I fucking mess it up."

"But you _can_ do so much!"

"No, I can't, Annabeth."

"But you can! You just have believe that you can do it and-"

"No, I _can't_ , Annabeth!" Percy snapped.

"But-"

"You wanna know what fucking happened that last time I thought I could do something? You wanna know? I almost fucking died by being choked the fuck out and got my arm broken and my heart nearly stopped by a single fucking punch!" Percy yelled, no longer caring about being nice or fair. "You think I can do anything, but I can't! I can't do anything right!"

"I-I never said that-" Annabeth's anger started to waver then, bringing in the sadness that came when they fought. Still, her pride refused to let her stop arguing.

"And what about you? How about we talk about _your_ problems, in front of everybody?" he gestured to the bystanders. "About how you can barely hold a dagger anymore, how your legs shake like a leaf at the sight of a single enemy? About how you-"

"Shut up!"

"No, I won't! And for all of your problems, you still haven't told me why. I can make guesses, sure, but for someone who made _me_ promise not to keep secrets, you being pretty fucking secretive yourself!"

"What do you want me to say, Percy? That I'm afraid? That I'm absolutely terrified that they'll capture me again? That when they do, they going to make me suffer and slowly die all over again and in even worse ways? That I have to wake up every night from nightmares about what they did to me? Is that what you want to hear? That I've become nothing more than a damsel in distress for _you_ to come _save_? Is that what you want to hear?"

"I-I didn't-"

"I can't do the things that you can, Percy. I don't think that you can do anything, but I _know_ you can do so much more than what you want to think…" Annabeth's anger had almost completely subsided.

"…No, I can't," Percy repeated that same phrase. "I don't know why you still think I can do anything…"

Annabeth glared at the boy. He was _still_ refusing to even try. Without thinking, and realizing that she couldn't do anymore to help him, she raised a hand and swatted him across the cheek, with her nails. "Fine…if you won't help yourself, then leave me alone…"

Then, she walked away.

Percy was left there, stunned at the events that had transpired. Part of him was angry at himself for driving her away, and another part was glad to see her off. It was about ten less problems that he had to deal with. The third part was ashamed at feeling the second. But most importantly, that hit, that single act, was like the flip of a switch. Currently, Percy was transitioning from one mindset to another without even realizing it. It was like a change from night to day (when the sun god wasn't slacking); gradual, but inevitable.

In his confusion, he felt something warm drip down his cheek. He raised his hand, and felt that same warmth. When he removed his hand, he saw that it was that crimson liquid of life.

" _Spider and owl, war's first blood shed…"_ Riptide thought aloud. " _But…that_ can't _be what that line means…could it?"_

Percy stood there, dumbfounded until satyr hooves clopped up to him. "Hey man!" Grover grabbed hold of Percy's shoulder. "What'chu doing, man? Go after her!" The son of Poseidon didn't respond, just walked in the opposite direction. Grover followed. "Yo, Perce, what the hell happened?"

Percy looked at Grover then, with the most defeated eyes that the satyr never wanted to see. "I…can't…I can't do _anything_ …"

"What are you talkin' about, Perce? You fought Ares, you fought Polyphemus, you fought the Nemean Lion!"

"No, Grover, I…can't…I just can't do it anymore…I'm just a…a nobody, a wash-out…" Percy lamented.

"Hey, would you _stop_ attacking yourself?" Grover took both his shoulders. "You're not this weak. The hero I know isn't this-"

"No!" Percy swatted his hands away. "I'm not a hero! I'm not! I don't _want_ to be one!"

Grover considered this before he responded. "…Look man, you're my best friend. But I don't know how to get you out of this rut that you're in. I'm trying man, I really am, but only you can get yourself out of this."

"I don't…" Percy was going to say that he didn't want to get 'out of this', but he refrained.

"Look at me," Grover requested. Percy complied. The satyr pointed to where Annabeth went. "Now the greatest thing that's ever gonna come into your life just walked away wanting nothing to do with you. That's not on her, okay? That's on you. _You_ have got to go fix that, or you're gonna regret it for the rest of your life, you feel me?"

Percy hesitated. "…I…don't know how…"

"Well, it won't be by just talking to her. I don't think that's gonna work this time," Grover crossed his arms, now relatively deep in thought. "Hm…"

"I think…I just need to think about it…" Percy said. "Alone."

Grover looked hurt, but he kept his comment to himself. "…You sure, man? I mean, isn't 'being alone' what got you like this?"

"Yeah…but I think…I spent all of that time thinking about the wrong things," he said, even as the concept felt foreign to him. Percy walked away then.

xxxXXXxxx

Annabeth wasn't sure exactly what she wanted to accomplish by just walking away. All she knew in that moment was that she no longer wanted to deal with any of his problems. And true, that wasn't fair. It was technically her job while they were in a relationship to help each other deal with their problems, but if he wasn't going to even try, and if he expected her to pull all of the weight, then her answer was "no."

She went to the Athena cabin and landed face first into her pillow. She just laid there for a long while to let herself vent. There were angry growls, there were tears, and there was a whole helluva lot of cursing. Once she'd decided that enough was enough, she didn't even feel better.

She went to the bathroom and let a small pool of water accumulate in the sink. She flipped a drachma into the resulting mist, but wasn't quite sure who she was trying to reach. She just knew she needed to talk to someone, because if she continued to wallow in her own sorrow, she might end up as bad as Percy.

"Show me Thalia Grace," Annabeth said finally, though she was nervous about calling her in the middle of a hunt, and prayed to the gods that they weren't fighting for their lives.

Thankfully, Annabeth seemed to have just missed a battle, as in the background, she saw wounded Hunters being tended to. "Hey, Thalia," Annabeth got the girl's attention.

"Annabeth?" the daughter of Zeus turned to the Iris-Message and grimaced. "What happened? You look…I mean…"

Annabeth chuckled sadly. "Terrible, I know," she agreed. "How are things?"

The girl gave Annabeth a hard stare, but soon answered her question. "We just fought off a flock of Stymphalian Birds heading east, toward camp," she explained, almost robotically, as she always was when explaining logistics. "No casualties, but there are many wounded. We're doing what we can before we restock at the next supply point."

"Artemis has supply points?"

"Yes; the different sects of her Hunters hunt not for monsters, but for supplies to place at them periodically. Lately, however, we've been running them dry trying to quell the monster surge."

"Well, I wish you the best of luck," Annabeth gave off a smile, but it soon faded. She knew Thalia could see right through her hollow façade.

"…Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?" she asked bluntly. "Because there is obviously something."

"Well…" Annabeth explained what had been happening at camp and with the Labyrinth. "And it all ended with a total failure on my part…my first quest, and it failed…"

"That isn't what's bothering you," Thalia claimed. Annabeth was about to argue, but she knew she couldn't. "It's about the son of Poseidon, is it not?"

"…Is it that obvious?"

"You two are inseparable, for better or worse," Thalia said. "The only reason you'd be this down is because something happened with him."

"Yeah…yeah, I guess," Annabeth agreed. "It's just…I'm afraid that I just ruined everything."

"An argument?"

"Worse than that," Annabeth claimed. "I…hit him…and not in fun or as part of sparring. I hit him, made him bleed, out of just anger…and we both said such awful things to each other…I'm just…afraid that things won't ever be the same between us."

"It's likely it won't," Thalia agreed. Annabeth nodded again, and shed a few tears. Odd, she thought she'd run dry of those. "…I wouldn't worry about it too much, though."

"…What? Why?"

Thalia looked extremely uncomfortable with what she was about to say, but she said it with the same confidence she always exuded. "In my experience with him, which is admittedly sparse, thank the gods, conflict doesn't have the same effect on him as it does on the rest of us."

"What…do you mean?"

"Well, for an example; when I quested with him, I kept putting him down. I kept telling him that he should just stay out of our way, and in many ways, I still think he should have. I had expected those words to either make him want to fight me, in a childish attempt to prove dominance, or to give up and return to camp. He did neither of those things. In fact, that abuse just made him fight harder. It made him reach new levels of power and determination than any he'd shown us before. It took time, yes, but it happened."

"So…you're saying I needed to yell at him, and hit him?"

"I would accept it as a justification. Just…don't expect a complete turn-around, and I think he won't disappoint."

"But…" Annabeth wasn't sure if she could accept that. She wanted the hero she fell for back. But she then thought through her own experiences with him. Not so much in their first adventure, as they were still becoming familiar with each other, and he was still coming to grips with his new lifestyle, but in their second adventure, when he saw Tyson die…he just exploded. That counted, right? Percy somehow found a way to channel his pain and rage into a fighting force that he had never shown up until that point.

Maybe…maybe this would be the same…if she was lucky.

"Did that help at all?" Thalia wondered.

Annabeth smiled, and it wasn't entirely forced this time. "Yeah…I think it did, a little."

Thalia smiled too, which was weird. "I'm glad. Zoë is calling me. I've got to go. I'll tell her about the Labyrinth and about the danger that camp is in, and we'll try and circle back around."

"Okay, thank you."

"Take care."

"You too."

And then Annabeth was alone again.

xxxXXXxxx

Percy spent a lot of time thinking. He wasn't thinking so much about what he could do to fix things with Annabeth, as he still didn't know how, but rather what he'd been doing that made her angry and made her problems exacerbate as they had.

Previously, he'd spent so long just thinking about himself, so long thinking about how not to fight, and how not to have to go through that kind of fear again. It was almost kind of refreshing to think about someone else.

At first, when he'd made the decision not to fight, Percy had thought he was being logical, by actively fighting against his fatal flaw, but that wasn't the right way to do it. He was trying to be something he wasn't, and he succeeded in becoming that thing, but he, in turn, put the people he cared about in danger.

He couldn't let that happen anymore.

Then there was Annabeth, that single thing that he couldn't lose; her companionship.

Percy wanted to say she was expecting too much of him, but the more he thought about it with a clear head, the more he realized that she just _had_ expectations of him. And he had failed to meet them time and time again. That was no longer an option, but…

That feeling of helplessness persisted all throughout Percy's working through this. This overwhelming power that he couldn't hope to overcome…

Percy stood, with the false sun setting, making way for the moon. "Zoë…give me the strength not to disappoint," he prayed to the moon goddess as he gripped the memento she gave him; that symbol of alliance between man and god.

Percy, even in this state of sorrow and angst, wasn't satisfied anymore with the outcome of the quest. He stood, and made his way over to his fellow quester. She was sitting at the foot on the lake, where they'd first gotten together, as if trying to recall why she had fallen for him in the first place.

Annabeth went there after her talk with Thalia, silently hoping that he'd come begging for her to come back, that he would try harder this time. And sometimes, the stars aligned perfectly.

She heard footsteps behind her. She turned to see Percy walking toward her, no longer feeling that seething anger that had eclipsed her feelings for him not three hours ago. He still carried himself in that same manner, like he was trying to avoid being noticed or called upon. It was the look she'd come to associate with this new Percy. However, there was a silver lining. His eyes changed.

Before, they were a bit dull, a bit distant. Now, shadowed though they were, they were at least determined. They were shining bright beneath that air of despair and doubt.

"What?" Annabeth tested the waters by sounding as frustrated as before. Unlike last time, he didn't flinch.

"We should get moving," Percy claimed.

Annabeth tilted her head. "Moving? Where?"

Without hesitating, Percy answered. "We're not done with our quest," he claimed. "We're going back down to the Labyrinth."

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys! I don't really have a transition, so I'll just go straight into things:**

 **So, yes, this chapter is all dialogue; I get that. Sorry, but next time things will pick up yet again. and hey, most of this story is dialogue, so whatever.**

 **No fun facts about this one, but I would like to share a character song again. I know, two in a row. this time, I'd like to share for Annabeth. Now, I actually had a lot of difficulty coming up with a song for her. Originally, I was going to go for "Goya no Machiawase" by Hello Sleepwalkers, the first Noragami opening, which translates to "Midnight Meet-Up", as it was basically about never-ending self improvement, but I ultimately decided against it. Instead, I really wanted to nail down why she was important to this particular story and to its main character.**

 **For this, I ultimately decided upon "Let It Out" by Miho Fukuhara, English cover by Miku-tan on YouTube. Like it or not, Annabeth is, for the purposes of this story, "Percy's girlfriend." In the context of the narrative, that is her sole reason for existing. For this story, I wanted to capitalize on that, and this song really puts into perspective how much that means. Without Annabeth, it's likely, if events occurred the same other than Annabeth not being there, he would've either killed himself from depression or got with Bianca and they could've gone mad together. And both of those would've sucked compared to what I got in store. The song could also double as a song for Percy and Annabeth's relationship as well, so take that for what it's worth. the song, in general, is about an "us"; a singer and whoever the song is directed towards. The song is really about them propping each other up on whatever they have, and relating they personal woes and how to help each other, which is very similar to how Percy and Annabeth interact, especially recently, and in the future. So...yeah...I'd recommend the song.**

 **Anyway, let me know what you guys thought of the chapter in a review! Oh, and sorry about the semi-late upload. I try to have them up by 5 my time, but it didn't quite pan out today.**


	44. Remember The Strength You Had

As the two questers once again stood over the entrance to the Labyrinth, they found themselves stopped. The guard patrol that the Ares cabin had set up was there as well, trying to ward them off, but they soon gave up as well. "Hey!" a young female voice called out to them, as Winona dashed up to them, out of breath.

"Win? What's wrong?" Annabeth questioned.

"Infirmary…mortal…Grover…needs help…" she wheezed.

Annabeth and Percy exchanged weary glances. Did they really need another problem on their plate? Ultimately, the answer didn't matter; their friend needed their help.

Soon, the three arrived back at the infirmary. There, they found that Grover was present, obviously, but they also found Rachel awake and acting relatively normal. Well, aside from the fact that she looked sick as vomit. "We did what we could, but Camp Half-Blood doesn't carry a whole lot of mortal medicines other than pain relief and anesthesia," Win explained.

"Well, at least we have anesthesia," Percy noted, remembering when they'd had to dig out shards of rock or slivers of steel from his body during especially brutal arena matches or Capture-the-Flag rounds.

"Rachel," Annabeth took her hand. "How are you feeling?"

"Better, thanks," the redhead tried to give a smile.

"So, Red, what happened up in the attic? Why'd you even go up there?" Percy questioned.

"I went up there because I was curious," Rachel explained.

"I thought Chiron said not to touch anything."

"I wasn't gonna touch anything!" she exclaimed. "I just wanted to look. But as soon as I went up there, everything turned into this green…puffy stuff, and…the rest is kind of a blur…"

"That's it?" Percy said. "Come on, there's got to be more."

"I'm sure we can assume what happened next," Chiron said as he made his way in. "Rachel Elizabeth Dare."

"Y-yes?"

"It would appear that the Oracle of Delphi has chosen you as its next host."

"Um…what does that mean?"

"It means that you must stay here, in Camp Half-Blood. You are the Oracle's vessel. You may no longer engage in romantic behavior. You can have no children. You can-"

"Whoa, whoa, hold up. What if I don't want this? Do I get a choice?"

"You made your choice when entered that dusty old attic," Chiron said.

Everyone awaited Rachel response to this. Percy could hardly handle that he was a demigod. He could only imagine what she must have been feeling at hearing that she was basically a captive of the Greek world now, all because of curiosity.

"…Do _I_ have to stay in that musty old attic?" was Rachel's first question, sending everyone into a dumbfounded stupor.

"W-what? _That's_ your first question?" Percy said.

"Well, yeah."

"B-but…what about your parents? Your old life?" Annabeth added, as she was equally exasperated.

Rachel shrugged. "They kinda sucked," she claimed. "Hm, but I can't _tell_ my parents, can I?"

"It would be in our best interest if you didn't," Chiron said. At least he seemed to be taking the whole "new Oracle" thing in stride as well. "I will set the Hephaestus and Athena cabins set to build you accommodations at the earliest convenience."

"Cool," she said. Chiron seemed satisfied with that, and left to see to it.

"So…Red, you, uh…you're sure you're cool with this?"

"Well, I mean…not like I have a choice, right?" Rachel said. "The way I see it, I could either fight against it and suffer, or go with it, and…not suffer as much. Seriously, if that feeling like my insides are turning inside-out happens every time I go Green Hag on you guys…ugh, I don't even _want_ to think about it."

Annabeth chose to ignore that Rachel just called the fabled Oracle of Delphi a "Green Hag" and instead turned her attention to Grover. "So why are you here, Grover? Aren't you searching for Pan?"

"Actually, yeah," Grover said. "But aside from helping out a friend," he nudged Percy. "My search actually led me back here. Then, I hear that this new mortal girl is talking about the lost nature god and…well," he gestured to her.

"I dreamed about Pan," Rachel claimed. "He was calling out for Grover to find him and he asked me to help, and he said something about nature's last stand, but his voice was really quiet when he talked about that stuff, like he was calling from somewhere far away."

"Okay…anything else?"

"Yeah, when I was dreaming, when I was talking to Pan, it was really musty and claustrophobic, like I was in a cave. Do you have any caves in this camp ground?"

"Yeah, I think, but…" Percy and Annabeth exchanged a look. They were thinking the same thing. "I don't think that's what Pan was referring to."

"See, we discovered an entrance to the Labyrinth," Annabeth explained. "It would make sense that Pan wouldn't have been found if he's somewhere down there."

"But…he's a nature god," Grover pointed out, obviously becoming a bit jumpy at the thought of being underground. "He would never-"

"Grover, he's hiding from the world," Annabeth pointed out. "Satyrs have been searching for him for centuries; how else could he have not been found?"

"Well, he…he might've…aw hell," Grover pulled his cap down to hide his eyes. "I gotta go down there, don't I?"

"Hey, I'll be there," Rachel claimed, patting him on the shoulder.

"What? No, you won't," Annabeth said. "This is a job for demigods. Mortals like you wouldn't be safe."

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "…Compared to when you got me attacked by monsters at school?"

Annabeth drew back. "…Point taken," she admitted.

"So, it's settled?" Rachel asked.

The four nodded to each other, and soon, they were all ready to venture down into the Labyrinth. They had packed extra supplies (as most of the questers' original ones had been abandoned along the way in their haste to escape the various dangers), and this time, Annabeth brought along he invisibility cap. She chose not to bring it last time because, one, she might've lost it and never been able to get it back and, two, she wasn't aware that of the Labyrinth's nature, and wasn't sure of whether it would even be useful. Now that she knew that might've benefitted from it, she decided to bring it for this second outing.

Somehow, this time was even worse for Percy and Annabeth, and yet it was easier at the same time. Both of them had come to expect that the Labyrinth would play to their fears and insecurities to the point where it drove them to those depressed states. They knew that, which made it so much worse. But by the same token, they knew that they had to overcome it. They didn't know if they were going to face the same challenges as before, but they _had_ to overcome them. _Percy_ had to overcome them, for his own sake, and for Annabeth's.

So, they delved into it.

Immediately, things seemed to go better for the questers compared to the last time. At first, they used the string that Ariadne had given them, but at the first intersection, Rachel disagreed. "Where are you going?" she questioned.

"We're…following our guide," Annabeth claimed.

"Well, that's the wrong way," Rachel claimed, as she pointed down one of the other paths.

"How do you know?" Grover questioned.

"Can't you guys see it too?" she wondered, pointing at the ground. "There's kind of a green glow leading this way."

The other three exchanged confused looks. "No, we can't," Percy claimed. "Are you sure you're feeling okay, Red?"

Rachel frowned and scrunched her eyebrows. "I'm fine, idiot."

"She probably is," Annabeth said. "This is just a guess, but maybe because she's the Oracle, she can preemptively see where we're going to go."

"Or maybe the god Pan is leading her to him," Grover offered an alternate explanation. Either way, it was clear to the group that the string was no longer completely necessary. Still, so as to keep it to either use it later or to return it to Ariadne, Annabeth put it into her pack, and the group continued on its way.

"So, uh, guys?" Grover spoke up.

"Yeah?"

"Now that I've got a chance to say this, um…sorry for not being there last summer, or last winter."

Percy and Annabeth fell silent. Last summer, they'd been lied to by Kronos that Grover was in danger, and last winter, he wasn't there at that final battle with Atlas and his forces. "It's…" Percy couldn't say it was fine. It would be a lie.

"…I promise to be there for you now, though," Grover vowed. It was odd, seeing the juxtaposition of his fear of being this far underground, compared to the stalwartness of his promise. It strangely relaxed the two.

Annabeth nodded, and they continued. "There's an exit up ahead," Rachel claimed. "It might disappear soon, though."

"Disappear?"

"Yeah," she said. "It's weird, but I can feel that Labyrinth shift and change in front of us, like whoever is at these exits is constantly changing hands of whose exit we go to."

"Well, what's at the exit?" Grover questioned. "Sunlight?"

"I don't know; I don't even know how I can see in this place," Rachel claimed. The three exchanged more looks.

"Then…let's go to this one," Annabeth said, as the leader of the quest.

Unlike the last exit, which lead straight forward, this one led upwards, like the Triple G Ranch. When they came out, the walls were concrete, and that pattern extended into the area they appeared in…for about four feet. Then it switched to beach, and then more concrete and then gravel, and then dirt, and then you probably get the picture.

It was odd. It wasn't an odd combination of material, but rather it seemed like they were stepping into different areas of land altogether when they switched. It was as if in on area you were in Alcatraz, and then next you were on an island prison, for the concrete to beach transition.

To put simply, each area was a different pocket of land that were normally separated by distance, except in this one area.

But that wasn't the notable part. It was weird, but not notable other than for its weirdness. No, what was notable about this exit was that it was a prison. There were many people visible to the questers, and none of them looked happy. Some of them walked outside their boundary of area, as each person was seemingly confined to one area, only to disappear or otherwise move out of sight. Most of the areas, however (and there was about four dozen of them), were empty; probably around two-thirds of them.

"What is this place?" Rachel wondered. Percy was wondering the same thing, actually.

"Who are these people?" Percy added. Annabeth shrugged her shoulders, indicating that she had no clue either. "Okay, Grover, are we outside?"

"Um…not that I can tell," Grover said while standing on concrete. Then he stepped onto the beach. "Well, actually yeah, I mean…oh man…I've got no clue."

"Let's ask someone," Percy said, stepping up to a girl on the beach. "Hello?" he said, stepping onto the sand. Instantly, his senses were filled with the smell and feeling of being on a tropical island, with salty air filling his nostrils.

The girl looked around for a moment before zeroing in on Percy. She had auburn-colored hair braided down one shoulder, and eyes that could see right through Percy. "…Drake?" she wondered.

"Who?" Percy wondered.

The girl looked a bit dejected at that, but quickly regained herself. "Then…you must be in that hellish showcase, then," she guessed.

"Um…sure?" Percy replied. "But…we don't really know what this place is. Could you help us?" The girl looked hesitant. "O-okay, let's not start with that, then. How about your name? I'm Percy," he held out his hand to her.

"…Calypso," she introduced, as she went to reach for Percy's hand.

"Daughter of Atlas," Annabeth said. Percy retracted his hand then.

" _What the hell?"_ Riptide questioned. _"That Hunter chick is his kid too,"_ it reminded him of Zoë. Hesitantly, Percy put his hand back down.

"…Sorry…I've had bad experiences with your dad," Percy said. Calypso gave him a knowing nod.

"As have I. He led me astray during the First Titan War, and as a result, I was trapped here, on Ogygia."

"Oh, I'm…sorry," Percy didn't know what that meant.

She gave another nod. "It isn't your fault," she said, her expression never changing from one of total understanding. When she tried to take his hand again, her form turned transparent, and her hand passed through his.

"What the hell?"

"We are separated by a vast distance, hero. If I were to have any visitors, I would choose to meet like this. At least in this instance, I am not forced to fall in love with you because of a demented game of the Olympians," she explained, though Percy wasn't comfortable with her calling him "hero." "While I am here on Ogygia, you are likely in the Olympians' chosen prison, for their most reviled or prized prisoners. You likely see many different panes of existence, all occurring simultaneously, but they are simply illusions cast by the mist."

"Kind of like those windows leading to other parts of the world in the Doctor Strange movie, but I can walk into them and not be taken there," Percy translated so he could understand. Calypso cocked her head.

"I don't know what this "Doctor Strange" is," she claimed.

"It's weird," Percy said curtly. "Is there anything else we should know?"

Calypso had to think about it. "No one you see is there. This prison is but a museum; for viewing pleasure. Except, of course, for its main attraction; Zeus' most prized prisoner and example."

"Example of what?" Percy asked.

Calypso gave him a blank stare. "You will find out soon enough, I imagine," she said. Percy frowned, dissatisfied with the response, as he couldn't tell if it was passive-aggressive or not. He wasn't even sure she knew what that meant. "Goodbye, and pray that we don't meet again," Calypso walked right through him, and disappeared once she left his view.

Percy returned to his friends, who had stuck to the concrete and listened to the conversation. "A smorgasbord of all of the Olympians' enemies, I guess," Rachel didn't seem all that worried or even that impressed. I guess a lifetime of seeing full-on monsters would take away the "wow" factor of a lot of things.

"I guess we forage ahead," Percy said.

"It's 'forge ahead', Seaweed Brain," Annabeth claimed.

"All the same," he gestured for the others to go first. Annabeth led the group, with Rachel being behind her, Grover behind her, and Percy going last to watch their backs. While Calypso said that nothing they saw was actually there, they could never be too careful when they could see _anything_ that looked dangerous.

"Wait, hold up," Annabeth stopped the group as she heard voices up ahead. "I hear something…"

"Bad?" Grover wondered. "Pan?"

"I don't think so…" Annabeth listened closer but didn't dare venture far from the group for fear of being cut off from them and captured again. Eventually, she even saw what was happening; a prison break in one of the areas. It was eerie to the daughter of Athena how this was the only area that actually looked like a prison, with a cell and everything.

Now, obviously, the break-out wasn't occurring where the questers were, but rather where the projected area was, but the rules dictating when the prisoners could see them was still fuzzy, so Annabeth hung back. She did, however, see Luke, and drew in a sharp breath when she did. In front of him was a Scythian Drachanae, the foot soldiers of Kronos' army, was knelt down in front of Celestial Bronze bars, or what looked like it.

"How's that lock coming?" Luke questioned. "I don't have all day; I need to get back to the forge."

"I realize," the monster was extremely disrespectful. Annabeth guessed that all monsters treated Luke with begrudging respect, but only because of his golden glow he had on him now. Interestingly, his sword, Backbiter, was nowhere to be seen on him. And why would he need to go to a forge at all?

Speaking of Luke, he looked incredibly good compared to when they last saw him last winter. His muscles had visibly reformed and become more prominent. His scar returned to its normal color, and his face color seemed much fuller than before, when it had looked pale as a sheet. He even had a golden glow, and was radiating with power; the same power that that sarcophagus had last summer on the Princess Andromeda. In a horrifying realization, Annabeth knew what had happened. Kronos likely needed a host, once his essence in the sarcophagus had grown powerful enough. More likely, his real body would reform after his essence fully recovered, but hopefully it would be a while yet before that happened.

Still, there was something off about Luke. He seemed…sad, somehow. It was his eyes, mostly; Annabeth knew them well, often having relied on their strength during their years on the streets with Thalia. Now, though, they seemed a bit melancholic or more like they were hesitant. Annabeth prayed that he might finally be reconsidering what he was doing, and only hoped it wasn't too late.

But there wasn't time for that yet. Annabeth couldn't very well expose herself, and only watched as a large padlock plummeted to the floor, and the cell door creaked open.

Luke's lips formed into a hollow smile. Annabeth knew one when she saw it. "Good," he said. "Kampê, you awake?"

"Piss off, you daft bastard," a creature mumbled from inside the cell, in the shadows where they couldn't see. Annabeth recognized the name. Kampê was the jailer of the Hundred-Handed Ones during the time when Kronos ruled, but was killed by Zeus when he freed them and the Cyclopes so they would help fight. She was known as the "Twisted Torturer." Torturers were already twisted, so the fact that she had to be specially dubbed so was unsettling. Still, Luke didn't seem afraid.

"I won't. Your Titan Lord commands you to rise again, and take revenge on the ones who cast you out," Luke claimed. Something stirred in the darkness.

"Titan Lord? You?" Kampê sounded unimpressed. "Kronos must not have a lot of options. But…revenge against the Olympians…now _that_ sounds enticing indeed. What would I do?"

"We're planning an assault on Camp Half-Blood. It will be a small victory, but it will be vital, as those Olympian sycophants would defend Olympus itself. Your first task is to aid our assault party," Luke explained. "Do this, and you will be the first to torture the Olympians when they fall."

A wistful chuckle came from the shadows. "…I can't get up," Kampê claimed.

Luke pushed the dracanae in. "Go help," Luke ordered. "I'm going back to the forge," he said as he turned around and went out of sight. The dracanae looked absolutely terrified, but entered the cell and approached the shadows. As it drew close, however, two spindly arms stretched out and grabbed the monster, before pulling it in. Annabeth heard gurgles, chewing, and the screams of the dracanae, but Luke didn't return.

Annabeth left then, not even wanting to see that horrible thing, back to her friends. "Let's just…keep moving…" she said, trying to block the screaming from her mind.

"What was it?" Grover questioned.

"Luke," Annabeth said curtly. "He freed Kampê."

"The jailer?" Grover seemed more worried about it than Annabeth. "But then…it took Zeus' Lightning Bolt to kill her last time, didn't it?"

"I realize, Grover," Annabeth said, wanting to push the issue away for now. She just wanted to focus on the quest. "But worrying about it here won't help anything."

"Then let's keep going," Percy suggested.

"Agreed," Annabeth said, leading the group forward once more. Eventually, after passing many more grotesque monsters that were prisoners for one reason or another, they reached the end. This was who Annabeth guessed was the only person actually here.

He looked like really any other man, but exuded a kind of untold strength that could only belong to a Titan. He was chained harshly to a rock face, arms stretched out to their limits, and his legs bound with more chains. There seemed to be a hole in his stomach, where golden ichor dripped down onto the stone underneath him. The most disturbing thing about the image was an eagle hovering around him, its beak encrusted with the dried ichor, as it had gouged out the man's liver.

Rachel put a hand to her mouth. "Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick…" she moaned, as Grover helped steady her.

"Who is that?" Percy wondered, equally horrified by the sight.

"It's Prometheus the Titan, the god of Enlightenment and Foresight," Annabeth answered.

"I thought Apollo was the god of foresight. You know, with the Oracle?"

"It's because I'm of fore _thought_ , young lady," the chained Titan said, startling the group. They had figured him dead; he had no irises or pupils to indicate life. His eyes were just white, and yet he was staring at them.

"Can you…see us?" Percy asked. Prometheus nodded. "How?"

"One doesn't need their eyes to see the souls of others," Prometheus claimed. "Just ask the children of Hades, who see others clearly in the deepest darkness."

"…of the Underworld, right?" Percy finished.

"I never said that," Prometheus replied.

"Okay…" Percy held out the 'ay.'

"Wait, why are you even in this place?" Annabeth questioned. "I thought Hercules freed you as part of his twelve labors."

"He did, for my giving the secret of fire to mankind," Prometheus said. "Alas, fate is of cyclical nature," he stared off into the distance. Annabeth wasn't sure whether he could see the other prisoners. "It was I who gave the secret of electricity and wires to mankind not too long ago to a certain Michael Faraday, a child of Hephaestus. Hephaestus uses a much more advanced version of your electric devices up on Olympus, so I figured he wouldn't mind if I gave you mortals the poor man's version of that. Unfortunately, the Olympians didn't take kindly to that, and thus, Zeus returned me to my punishment. "

"You call almost 200 years 'not too long ago'?" Rachel questioned.

"…To be fair, young lady, I am over two millennia old at least. Honestly, even _I_ can't remember everything that has happened in that time," Prometheus said. "So, I hear that my brothers are attempting a takeover, using monsters and even demigods like you. Is this true?"

"Well, yeah," Grover said.

"Grover," Annabeth pulled him aside. "We don't want him knowing too much if we can help it."

"I can hear you, young lady," Prometheus said. "So, how fares it?"

"They won't win," Annabeth claimed.

Prometheus blinked, as if trying to determine if she was speaking the truth or if she was speculating. "And the hero of the Great Prophecy; what does he choose?"

Eyes turned to Percy. He recalled Zoë's words. " _When the time comes, I expect you not to kill me with the wrong choice."_

"Olympus won't fall," Percy said, with some apprehension. Annabeth couldn't exactly blame him; he's gotten nothing but grief from the gods, save for one or two. Still, she couldn't help but feel relieved at his answer; she was afraid that after what happened with his father, he might want to spite the god. She was glad he had some sense to him.

"A confident answer, good," Prometheus seemed to implicitly deny them about whether it would prove true or not. He _was_ the god of forethought, after all; he would be the one to know, other than the Fates. "Now, as much as I would like to sit here and chat with you, I have important matters to attend to that are, as the mortal said, about 200 years past due. So, if you would, do be kind enough to break these chains for me."

"What? No," Percy said, immediately suspicious. "You're a Titan."

"And?" Prometheus prodded.

"So you're evil."

" _Only a Sith deals in absolutes, bro,"_ Riptide commented.

" _Don't tell me you're agreeing with him."_

"There are plenty of demigods who would fight against you. Are they evil?"

"Well-"

"And there are a number of a minor gods who would fight for the Titan cause, are there not?"

"Y-you-"

"And that girl you met on the way in, Calypso. She is a Titan, and you listened to her own words with respect."

"Alright, I get it!" Percy snapped, though quickly retracted. He turned away. Annabeth put a hand on his shoulder.

"Percy, he _did_ fight for the gods in the first Titan war," The son of Poseidon considered this. "At least give me your sword."

"I'm afraid you lack the necessary strength to break these bonds."

"Then…why do you think-" Grover couldn't even finish asking. Eyes turned to Percy.

"W-what? Me? No way; I can't break…" he didn't finish, as he saw the dolefulness in Annabeth's eyes when he said "I can't-" again.

"Young man, I see more in your future than you can possibly imagine," Prometheus claimed. "You are capable of a power untold throughout the world of gods and monsters, I have seen it. I only hope you can use the full extent of it before your final moments."

"You don't know a _damn_ thing you're talking about! You're a Titan! Those chains were made to hold you, and I _lost_ to a Titan just six months ago!"

"You lost to the strongest Titan by far. It was foolish of you to think you could face him. I am one of the weakest; it does not take much in comparison to hold me," Prometheus argued.

"Percy…" Annabeth placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Perce…" Grover gripped his other shoulder, looking surprisingly calm. "You can do this."

"If Tyson were here, he would believe in you too," Annabeth said, which really felt like a punch to the gut. But maybe that was what he needed to hear.

"I'll…try…" he said finally. Annabeth smiled. It wasn't the empty grins she'd given up to this point. She was expressing genuine happiness. Percy had never needed something so much and never realized until he received it. "Stand back, at least."

The others complied. " _You can do it, man,"_ Riptide encouraged.

Percy nodded, and extended Riptide. He tried to feel for the tug in his gut. He gritted his teeth as he found it, and released his water. The liquid swirled around him, summoned from his own being. Almost immediately, Percy's head started to throb, and his arm began pulsating with an unearthly pain. Still, Percy fought on. " _Remember the strength you had…"_ he told himself. " _Remember those surges of power you felt in your greatest moments. Remember! Remember Polyphemus, and the Nemean Lion at least! Remember!"_ his self-motivation turned into shouts of encouragement in his head. " _Remember! Remember! Remember how far you've come!"_

Percy turned around, and forced incredibly forceful jets of water from his legs, shooting him upward even further when he jumped. He flipped backwards in the air and somehow miraculously positioned himself as he switched to a backhanded style of swordplay. Percy then held his other hand up into the air, and shot water straight up help propel himself downward faster than normal. Percy braced his arm form the impact as the chains came into focus. Soon, it was just him and his target. Percy had forgotten the feeling, of being alone with an opponent and feeling…confident.

Percy, in that split second before impact, saw the faces on his friends. Rachel's stunned awe, Grover's thumbs-up and goofy smile, and Annabeth. She had such beautiful sparkling eyes. And her smile seemed brighter than before.

How had he been so foolish so as to let her down time and time again? How could he have allowed himself to stoop so low? Seeing her, everything became clear to Percy, for just that brief moment.

Then, upon impact, that clarity disappeared instantaneously.

The chains shattered in a golden burst, the blast of which knocked back Percy and the rest of the questers. Prometheus collided with the ground with the same force and stone-cold supremacy of Atlas when he took that single step toward Percy that had halted him last winter. Still, this time it took his entire body, so…baby steps? Or maybe Prometheus wasn't joking about being weaker.

Either way, he held none of the vague wisdom he had when chained up, and instead, started laughing maniacally. "Finally!" he yelled. "Finally I've been freed from my eternal torment!"

Annabeth stood shakily, as the others did the same. "So…you'll help the Olympians?" she questioned.

Prometheus shot her an unsettling grin, made even more disturbing by his lack of pupils and irises. "No, my lord beckons me to him," he said. "Alas, your effort was for nothing but your detriment!"

"You traitor!" Percy yelled.

"Yes, yes, I am," Prometheus smirked as he turned away. "You may want to shield yourself," he suggested, almost helpfully. All of the questers instinctively raised their arms, but that wasn't what he meant. From his body, a massive burst of pure light was emitted, like a supernova without the heat. All of the questers were blinded by it. "Au revoir!" they heard as Prometheus walked past.

The questers could only try and regain their sight for minutes on end, as the Titan of Forethought waltzed past them to fight against the Olympians.

 **Author's Note:**

 **So before I go on, I want to give a shoutout to my good friend Julian, because he gave me the idea of the the space-pocket-prison-thing. We both agreed it was a really cool idea, and I wanted Prometheus in the story before Last Olympian, so...yeah...**

 **Anyway, what'd you guys think? I personally found this one to be fairly enjoyable to both read through and write, even if not a whole lot happened. But what I care doesn't matter; I want to know what you guys thought!**

 **Also, I've figured it out; Battle of the Labyrinth will go on to chapter 48, so be prepared for another break between books after that chapter. Just a warning.**


	45. You Must Make Your Choice

"Well, that was a bust," Rachel tried to sound peppy. "But hey! No one died!"

Grover, at first, tried to keep spirit with the mortal, but soon stopped when he saw Percy and Annabeth's sullen faces. This venture was going about as well as their last, so far. In their first true stop, they were tricked by a former ally of the Olympians. This time with Prometheus, and last time with Bianca di Angelo.

"Man…whatever happened to Bianca?" Percy wondered, aloud. He immediately regretted it, as he got a sour look from Annabeth.

"Who cares? She tried to kill us," the blond said, a bit harshly.

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Percy, please don't tell me you still care about her," Annabeth said as she hooked her arm into his. "You have to draw a line somewhere. She struck out against you openly."

" _You struck me yesterday,"_ Percy was going to say, but he didn't need or want to see her in an even sourer mood. It would make his heart too heavy. So, he just remained silent, as they group trudged onward.

" _That's a weird word…sourer…"_ Riptide thought aloud…or as much as it could inside Percy's head. " _Sow-er-er…"_

"Shut up, Riptide," Percy said off-handedly.

"Who do you keep talking to?" Rachel wondered.

"No one; I'm going crazy."

"If you ask me, you've been gone for a while now," Annabeth laughed lightly at her own joke, which made Percy feel better. He hadn't heard her really laugh in a long time, and he couldn't wait hear her truly laugh out loud at one of his jokes or mess ups, like she used to.

All of this walking had really made the son of Poseidon question Annabeth. Not what she did or how she did it, but questioned her in relation to Percy. What was she to him? That was the central question. They'd been dating for about a year now, and had gone through as much as most couples would in ten, in only like eleven months. They'd been there for each other whenever they could, and had tried to help each other in their darkest moments.

Percy had come to rely on the daughter of Athena so much; way more than even she could ever comprehend. Percy couldn't imagine a life without her anymore. Maybe…he should just run away with her. They were strong enough to face the monsters out in the world. They could just run away from the gods, from the Titans, from Luke and Chiron and Poseidon and everyone else…but she would never have that.

She was far too devoted, and at this point, both of them had become such valuable targets for Kronos' army, that Percy doubted that any attempt to flee would succeed. They'd just be hunted down, defenseless. At least staying at Camp Half-Blood meant they had a hundred campers backing them up. So they were stuck in the war until a victor was decided.

Decided…decision…choice…that word, 'choice,' had changed meanings since Percy had come to Camp Half-Blood. In the end, lowly demigods had no real choice. There was nothing meaningful in what they did. But Percy had the ability to be the exception. His choice, _Olympus to preserve or raze_ , could change everything.

"Percy," Annabeth's voice shook him out of his thoughts. He looked ahead, seeing a single foe sitting before them. Well, perhaps it was unfair to assume that whatever was before them was a foe, but given the track record…

"You draw near to your goal," the creature announced, gesturing to the door behind her.

"Pan?" Grover said hopefully.

"Daedalus," Annabeth clarified. She'd noted that the architecture was growing more and more Greek as they travelled. "His workshop lies beyond those doors, doesn't it?"

"Perhaps, perhaps not. I do not know, nor do I care. But I must be here, a test of mind to bear."

"Did…did she rhyme on purpose?" Rachel asked. The creature hissed at the mortal.

"You're…the Sphynx," Annabeth guessed.

"Like the ones in Egypt?" Percy asked.

Somehow, Percy's stupidity calmed Annabeth as she explained to him. "First off: 'one,' singular. Second: no, this is the Sphynx, with a 'y'. It guarded the city of Thebes by land, as Talos guarded it by sea. It gave a riddle, but was outsmarted and killed by Oedipus."

"I thought it just flung itself off the mountain when it was answered correctly," Rachel spoke up. "Or am I remembering wrong?"

"…You're remembering wrong," Annabeth said. "That would be ridiculous."

Rachel put a hand on her hip. "Coming from the myths where the reason the forger god is so ugly is that he fell down some stairs? Gimme a break."

"G-guys, can we focus, please?" Grover seemed the most nervous.

"Let me guess," Annabeth turned her attention back to the monster. "Daedalus put you out here so he wouldn't be disturbed by people he didn't find smart enough?" she guessed. It was a sound explanation, but the Sphynx didn't answer it. Instead, it began its riddle game.

"Answer me this: what can be seen once in a minute, twice in a moment, and never in a thousand years?"

"…What?" Everyone was just confused, save for Annabeth, who was quickly lost in thought. She answered within five seconds.

"The letter 'M'," she answered. The Sphynx scoffed, but nodded.

"Ripped from my mother's womb, beaten and burned, I become a blood-thirsty killer. What am I?" it asked. Another few seconds before Annabeth answered.

"Metal ore, like iron," she answered.

"Lighter than what I am made of, more of me is hidden than can be seen. What am I?"

This one took slightly longer, as the answer dealt with something other than logic, but outside knowledge. "An iceberg," Annabeth answered. "Because ice is less dense than water."

The Sphynx growled, becoming impatient. It began pacing back and forth in frustration then, its paws hitting the ground providing a numbing rhythm in the room. "This thing all things devours; birds, beasts, trees, flowers; gnaws iron, bites-"

"Time," the daughter of Athena answered.

The three other looked at her incredulously, and then looked at the Sphynx, who freaked out just the same, indicating that she was right. "H-how?"

" _That_ one was from The Hobbit," she explained.

"I…never read that one," Percy said.

"Well, you should read more," she replied.

"Rragh! Fine!" the Sphynx snapped. "This will be the final question! But choose your answer carefully, and _no_ _lying_!" it was about at its breaking point. "The one who makes it, sells it. The one who buys it, never uses it. The one that uses it never knows that they're using it. What is it?"

Annabeth had heard this one before, but the answer didn't bode well for them. "I-is it…a coffin?"

"Yours, specifically!" the Sphynx pounced on the girl for proving smarter than it, and knocked her down before anyone could react. The beast then went for her throat, but Annabeth managed to hold her hand up in self-defense. It was the one time her flinching, and covering her face when something appeared, paid off.

A burning pain seared up her arm, and she felt the warmth of blood drip onto her face. Then, the weight of the Sphynx disappeared from her body, and the next thing she saw was a burst of dust, from Percy slashing it in two.

Annabeth was panting, just from that small encounter. It was probably the most life-threatening encounter she'd had since the Empousa. And it rightfully freaked her the fuck out. She couldn't focus on her bubbling fear for too long, as her arm, after adrenaline faded, started throbbing uncontrollably. She held it and groaned, trying to squeeze hard enough to stop the blood flow.

Percy knew what to do, ripping off a part of his shirt and tying one end around her upper arm as tight as he could, and then tied another bit of his shit around the wound itself. Finding that that would be enough for right then, Annabeth dug out a tiny bit of ambrosia, and nibbled on it, feeling a bit better with each little chunk.

"Ooh, can I have some?" Rachel asked. Annabeth shot her a look that said she wasn't in the mood for that.

"Sure, if you don't mind bursting into flames instantaneously," Grover said.

Percy helped Annabeth to her feet. "Are you okay?" he asked, his eyes full of the same concern as it had been before…the incident. It wasn't the despondent kind of concern he showed while dealing with his own issues. It gave Annabeth a bit of hope that he was finally trying to move past them.

She gave the best smile she could, even as her heart still raced with anxiety. "I'll be fine. Let's just head inside. This is what we came for."

"Well, it's what _you two_ came for…" Grover mumbled.

With that, the questers approached the door. It was definitely of Greek origin, but it looked like it had to be repaired many times before, pointing to it being quite old, in comparison to the Greek architecture around them.

The first thing that they immediately noticed about the room they entered was how dark it was. Compared to the torch lit exterior, the interior was pretty gloomy. The second thing was the thing that really got them on edge.

"Is that…Apollo?" Annabeth question, pointing to the only light source in the room. It was odd; Apollo was trapped in a chamber-like contraption, and was constantly emitting light from his body, but the light only lit the container, not the area surrounding it or any of the rest of the room. The god looked dead inside; his eyes were blank, and he didn't respond to them entering the room. "He was captured?"

"That's impossible," Grover claimed.

"Well, look," Percy said. "There he is."

"We need to free him," Annabeth said. "Percy, can you…?" she didn't want to ask too much of him so soon, but he nodded, even as his expression was unsure.

"I'll try," he said, drawing Riptide. He didn't have the room to perform that boosted-type attack that he used to break Prometheus' chains, so he just had to hope that Apollo's container wasn't as difficult to break as those.

"Hey, here's an idea," Rachel said. "Maybe there's a switch to release him?"

"Good idea," Grover said, and Annabeth nodded.

"We'll look around; Percy, you try to free him just the same."

Percy nodded, and built up power within himself, feeling that familiar tug at his gut, and cloaked his blade in self-made water, before charging toward the container for a vicious swing at its glass-looking material, though Percy guessed that it was far stronger than glass.

It turns out that he wouldn't even have the chance to find out, as he was blocked. A shadow man, or a dude hidden in the shadow of the room, blocked Percy's attack.

Percy was forced back, and could only just make out the insanely fast sword slash coming his way, reacting just in time to block it. "What the hell?"

"Percy!" Annabeth called when she heard the clanging of weapons.

"Annabeth, get back!" Percy forced his opponent back and got into a flurry of strikes with him. The exchange was fierce, but Percy was ready, or so he thought. They sent each other flying into shelves and workbenches. Percy blasted him back with a jet of water, feeling that rush, that thrill he once felt when fighting monsters returning to him, slowly but surely.

The man stayed on his feet, surprisingly, from the knockback, and raised his blade high. Suddenly, it began glowing, and unlike Apollo's cage, this light revealed the area surrounded him. At first, Percy was getting flashbacks to the Princess Andromeda, and Luke blasting him with an indeterminable energy wave, but then Percy saw this man's face.

"Quintus?" Percy was just confused. The automaton had no remorse in his eyes. He slashed downward, and a wave of energy, just like Luke's, shot from the automaton's own blade.

"Percy, look out!" Annabeth called, but she was too late.

He tried to raise his blade, but it was just too close of quarters to block it. Percy was caught dead in the chest, and felt an indescribable pain when it struck, but felt no blood seep from any type of wound. It was as if it struck the very nerves of Percy's torso. The impact of the slash was perhaps greater than Luke's own wave of energy, and blasted Percy back toward his friends, with the back of his head slamming against the wall.

Percy struggled to stand, but thankfully, that light also revealed the questers' faces and Quintus held off on continuing the fight. "What are you doing here?" he didn't sound sorry for attacking them.

"We should be asking you that," Percy spat as he stood, still unsure of whether the automaton would attack. "You said you didn't know how to navigate the Labyrinth, you damned machine."

"Wait, he's a…" Annabeth looked at the shadowed figure, as Quintus flipped a switch, and strange amorphous lights sparked to life all around them, illuminating the once-dark room. It was very large workshop, filled with all manner of gadgets and blueprints, almost like what one would see in the Hephaestus cabin. But Annabeth wasn't focusing on that. She saw some kind of cord run from the wall, and up; right into the back of Quintus' head, like he was charging. And yes, that meant that Quintus was good enough to fight off Percy and keep himself plugged in. "A man-made automaton. But only the greatest…Daedalus…Daedalus made you!"

Quintus smirked. "Well, you're half-right," he said. "But I have to say I'm a bit disappointed that you haven't figured it all out yet, daughter of Athena. I thought my kin would be smarter than that."

"Your kin?" Percy stepped in front of her protectively. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, for Athena's sake…" Quintus drooped his shoulders. " _I_ am Daedalus, you philistines!"

"W…what?"

"Before I died, I created an automaton body to live on, and then I built another when the first died, and then another, and then another. This is my fifth, hence the name _Quintus_ ; fifth!" he said it like it was supposed to be obvious. Then he turned away. "Jeez, this is why I don't work with amateurs…troglodytes…"

The questers exchanged confused looks. "Then…why did you disguise yourself at Camp Half-Blood?"

"Not important," Daedalus replied.

"Uh, yeah, it kinda is."

"Fine…let's just say it was a fail-safe."

"And what about that attack?" Percy was especially curious. "The only other time I saw that was from Luke, and with Kronos' power."

"Foolish boy; you couldn't fathom the time I've had to plan and build. I have already made replicas of all of the Olympian's personal weapons, made improvements on Hermes' Shoes, made three copies of Heracles' sword, among countless other things. And you don't think I could figure out how to replicate Kronos' energy attacks using magical components?" Daedalus, once again, took his knowledge for granted.

"Alright…well, you know why we're here."

"Yes, I know," Daedalus looked bored. "You precious little controller," he pointed to a small device at the side of the room. Annabeth walked toward it. "Ah, ah, ah, little damsel girl," she flinched at the insult. "I wouldn't go near there if I were you."

"Why not?" she challenged, though that insult put her off enough to make it sound not intimidating.

"Because if you do, I'll cut you into pieces," his eyes set into a glare. The dude had over two millennia to perfect that look, and he did. It scared Annabeth into backing away, back to Percy. She silently cursed herself for being so fearful. "Now, that's not to say you came all this way for nothing. You just have to do one thing for me."

"…" the questers didn't dare interrupt. They knew that none of them could probably take this guy in a straight-up fight. He's literally had thousands of years' worth of training. It took all Percy had to hold him off while the automaton was under a severe handicap of having to stay plugged in, and the son of Poseidon was their best fighter.

"See, there's this problem," Daedalus started.

"What kind of problem?"

"I don't know. And that's what bothers me. I know _everything_ happening in my Labyrinth and every one of its exits, but this…this is something that is out of my control. Just go there, and check it out."

"…" the questers exchanged looks. They didn't exactly have much of a choice. "Alright, we'll do it," Annabeth said. "But we don't know how to get there."

"Leave that to me. I will guide you all from here," Daedalus assured. "Once you get there," he pointed to Percy. "You'll have to make a choice. Those were that petty god's last words," he gestured to Apollo, who was comatose in his cage.

With another weary glance at both the controller to the Labyrinth and to Apollo in his cage, the questers took their leave and entered the endless hallway of Final Fantasy XIII- I mean…the Labyrinth, once again.

"I don't like this," Annabeth said. "He shouldn't have attacked us."

"He couldn't see us," Percy argued.

"But he could hear us," Annabeth returned. " _And_ he's holding the god Apollo hostage."

"Annabeth…" Percy could understand her apprehension. "When we get back, we'll free him before we leave, one way or another."

She smiled, feeling bit reassured at that. "Alright. Then let's get on with it."

xxxXXXxxx

Daedalus walked over to the remote to control his Labyrinth, which then expanded into an entire console to control all of the ins and outs that Daedalus knew of. The thing about the Labyrinth is that it had gone out of even his control, but he had at least gotten control of all of its branches under the US, in the past two hundred and fifty-ish years of its existence.

Suddenly, he felt a cold presence approach him, seeping in from the shadows. It sent a shiver down the inventor's mechanical spine whenever he felt it, even after all of these long years. "I'm surprised that you had the tact to lie so openly like that," Minos said, his voice lined with poison, as if trying to verbally remind Daedalus of his place.

"It was nothing."

"You will _kneel_ before me when you speak," Minos ordered. Daedalus froze in fear, and quickly obeyed.

"It was…nothing…master…" he said.

Minos chuckled. "Ah, good. I'm glad my hold on you hasn't diminished in these many long centuries, son of Athena."

Daedalus' eyes flashed with anger, even in his subjugation. It was _Athena_ that doomed him to this pitiful life, all over the death of a single child who happened to have her blessing. Daedalus had had her blessing as well, but it seemed that she favored Perdix, Daedalus' now-deceased nephew, over the master omnibus himself.

"And what exactly _is_ your plan to get those pesky demigods out of our way?" Minos asked.

"I was…planning on having the son of Poseidon kill himself. I would trap the satyr and the mortal in the Labyrinth by themselves. With them gone, that already near-broken daughter of Athena won't have the will to fight back. I would kill her when she returned."

"Devious," Minos almost complimented the automaton. "It seems my own methods have finally begun rubbing off on you, old man. Good…then perhaps we should begin preparing for the arrival of the son of Hermes. He should be about ready to lay siege to that camp fairly soon."

"Yes…master."

 **Author's Note:**

 **Ooh, ominous...**

 **Hey all! Thank you guys so much for reading! Please, let me know what you think in a review, and don't hesitate to share whatever you want!**

 **On that note, however, I have something to say. I really don't like calling people out, but this isn't necessarily bad, so I think it's fine. The most recent guest reviewer for chapter 44 had choice words, which is completely fine. However, the nature and length of the review left me a little bit confused. So, guest reviewer, would you be willing to make an account to discuss this with me, or perhaps we can discuss it on like an instant messenger of some kind. If not, that's fine as well, but I'll be left confused. For those who don't like what he said, don't give the guy crap; he's got his opinion. I was just curious if he would elaborate on it.**

 **Anyway, thank you guys again!**


	46. A Hero's Desperation Breeds Strength

Percy probably felt the worst out of the questers on their way to…whatever it was that Daedalus wanted them to check out. He had just regained a bit of confidence in himself in breaking Prometheus' chains, and then he just got totally owned by the automaton. The lingering pain in his chest proved that fact. It was the same result, if not worse, as when he was hit by Luke's energy wave. He was actually beginning to wonder if the chain thing was just a fluke.

"So, any ideas?" Annabeth said all of a sudden, jerking Percy out his thoughts. It was probably for the best, so he didn't delve into depression once again. "On freeing Apollo?"

"Well, it's four on one, right?" Grover said. "He can't beat all of us."

"Well, three-on-one," Annabeth corrected. "Sorry, Rachel."

"I wouldn't fight even if you asked me."

"Well, you're not a lover, I can tell you that much, Red," Percy joked, getting a light chuckled from the group…except Rachel.

"Clam it, chowder head," Rachel demanded.

"I can try to hold him off," Percy said. "I can do at least that much while you guys free Apollo."

"Well yeah, but how are you gonna get out of there?" Grover brought up.

"And what if he catches you off-guard or uses you as a hostage?" Annabeth added; understandable given how the enemy did just that with her.

"He won't," Percy assured.

" _So you think_ ," Riptide claimed. " _…But good on you for believing the best,"_ it added begrudgingly.

"Um, guys," Grover pointed. "Look at that."

The four looked ahead and focused their eyes in the darkness. Sure enough, with some clanking and clattering, the path ahead of them formed a break-off, as one of its walls dropped and revealed another way forward. The new way looked to be made out of stone, like a cave, while the path they were on kept the Greek designs. "That asshole. Does he want us to find our way or not?"

"He might not," Annabeth said. "He could've been lying."

Percy quickly grumbled his agreement. Rachel looked into the new path, stepping into it and smelling the musty air. "I…feel something…" she claimed.

"So do I," Grover said, his eyes growing wide with excitement. "Pan is calling me!"

"Excuse me; calling _us_ ," Rachel reminded him. "Don't jip me on the credit."

"R-right, sorry, uh…Red?" Grover said, not remembering her actual name.

Rachel shot Percy a glare, before rolling her eyes. "Fine," she relented.

"Uh guys, that's all well and good, but Daedalus still needs us to go check this thing out," Annabeth pointed down the original path. "For now, it's our best shot at saving camp."

"But-" Grover was about to argue, but then the place started to shake, as its gears and mechanisms started whirring. The cave where Rachel was standing began to shake, like it was going to collapse.

"Rachel!" Annabeth reached for her, but Percy drew the blonde back. Grover charged into the cave, inadvertently saving the redhead's life by pushing her further inwards just as the cave collapsed behind them, and the wall shut closed once again.

" _And then there were fewer…"_ Riptide said matter-of-factly.

"Are you okay?" Percy asked, but Annabeth didn't answer him. She stood and went to examine the wall. She put her ear to it and…nothing. When she tapped it, it didn't even feel like there was anything on the other side but stone, which didn't bode well for Rachel and Grover. "What do you think? Any chance on reaching them?" Annabeth shook her head. "O-oh…" Percy's hopes sunk. But he couldn't let himself be put down too much. He'd just have to have faith in them, that they'd make it through…and that they _hadn't_ been crushed under mountains of rubble.

"…I don't like it," she said.

"What? That we never seem to have any control in these quests?" Percy questioned. He'd been feeling those exact sentiments as of late.

"No, Daedalus," the daughter of Athena turned back to her boyfriend. "He's toying with us. Even _you_ have to see that," she said condescendingly. Percy blinked in surprise; she hadn't made a comment like that in over a year. "S-sorry, it's just-"

"N-no, I get it, but…like you said, our best shot at saving camp is by working with him, right?" Percy tried to assure her. "And whatever is waiting for us, he seems to want us to face it alone. We can at least agree that that's true, right? Why else would he open that second path?"

Annabeth nodded, but still couldn't understand why. "…I just wish I knew who he was fighting for…"

"Probably himself," Percy suggested. "Guy's been alive for thousands of years; he's probably pretty unbiased toward any side except his own."

Annabeth nodded, finding the logic surprisingly sound. "…That's…odd. Have you gotten smarter?"

Percy grinned sheepishly. "It's probably just you rubbing off on me," he said. "Come on."

She nodded, and the two walked side-by-side toward their unknown fate. Annabeth, however, was still wary about this little side-adventure. She couldn't help but feel like Percy's 'choice' would be one that affected the both of them, and in major ways. And the thing about these feelings when it comes to demigods, is that they're usually warning them about something bad. Annabeth wanted to just take Percy and run, but she forged onward, because it's what he would do if he was on his own, with nothing weighing him down.

xxxXXXxxx

It took the duo a good hour or two in the Labyrinth to reach their destination, so about 45 minutes after they were separated from Grover and Rachel. As they went, the hallway got progressively hotter and hotter, until they were both drenched in sweat.

When they arrived at the exit, they found that it literally had heat ripples; the little waves you see above like a car or the cement on a hot summer day. It had those all around them, and it kind of gave the demigods sensory overload as they tried to pay attention to each wave and they failed at doing so.

Still, they tried to focus. They heard rhythmic banging long before they arrived, but when they did, they finally saw what it was to be used for.

"How much longer?" they heard a familiar voice call out.

"Just a few minutes to release, Lord Kronos," a reptilian, and yet dog-like, voice returned. "Then it will be ready for the final phase."

"Good, good…" Luke returned. Percy and Annabeth hid behind some nearby rocks, being careful not to touch them. Upon examining their surroundings, they found that they were in the middle of a volcano, and from the bubbling underneath, they figured it was about ready to blow…or maybe that was how the inside of volcanoes normally looked; Percy wasn't an expert in that area, for obvious reasons.

Annabeth peered over the edge, and saw a group of dog-headed monsters, telekhines, doing the repeated banging, on an object that Annabeth couldn't see from the angle she was at. Right next to them was Luke, sporting a brilliant golden glow about him, even in the light and heat of the volcano. He looked to be struggling, as if trying to contain the glow. She didn't really see any of the sadness or distance in his eyes as she saw before, however. Annabeth lowered back down.

"They must be the disturbance that Daedalus was talking about," she whispered. "A few monsters and Luke; he looked unarmed."

"Unarmed? That doesn't make sense; he always has his Backbiter on him."

"Well, he doesn't right now, and that's good."

"Annabeth; I'm _not_ gonna kill him," Percy said, partly due to his own friendship with the guy (before he went all Raistland on the gods…though let them all hope that he isn't as successful as that character was), and partly because he was sure that Annabeth and especially Thalia would want to at least try and bring him back before he was axed off by the gods anyway.

"You don't have to kill him," Annabeth said. "I don't want you to. But we _need_ to stop whatever is going on up there. They're forging something; the telekhines were the inventors of metal work. They'd only be brought back to forge something incredibly powerful and dangerous."

"So then we go up there and steal whatever it is they're forging," Percy suggested. "Then they have no reason to stay here, and they'll leave. Disturbance: warded off."

"I don't think Luke will let you," Annabeth said, peeking over again. "Look, he's unarmed. All you have to do is get him to a stale-mate. Then we can negotiate. I can…I can take advantage of his fatal flaw, if I have to, to get him to back down."

"What _is_ his fatal flaw?" he asked. He was sure he'd heard it recently, but he had been so wrapped up in his issues that he had forgotten.

"Excessive honoring of promises and debts," she answered. "In shorthand; excessive honor."

Percy nodded, though he wasn't sure how she would be able to take advantage of that. "Okay, while I get Luke, what will you do?"

"I'm going to circle around, using this," she pulled out her invisibility cap. "And see what they're up to."

"And take out those telekhines, right?"

Annabeth frowned. "I…y-yeah," she said. "Good luck," she said, before putting on her cap. Truth be told, she doubted she'd even try. Because if she took one out, it'd only be a matter of time before they locked onto her position, even with invisibility. And then, it would only be a matter of time before they caught her…she shivered at the thought, and then mentally slapped herself. " _No!"_ she yelled in her head. " _Stop thinking like that! You'll never be able to do_ anything _when you thinking about all of the ways that they can hurt you!"_

Even as she told herself this, she kept her dagger firmly sheathed at her belt, and didn't dare take it out.

Meanwhile, Percy came straight out. "Luke!" he called, climbing on the top of the rocks he'd previously been hiding behind.

The man peered down. "Percy?" he seemed more confused than worried or angry. "How did you get here? You shouldn't be here right now!" Percy didn't answer, just charged straight for the son of Hermes. Luke deftly avoided each blow, even if he had to retreat one step at a time as he did. "Percy, stop!"

"I won't!" he returned, stabbing toward Luke's shoulder as he was backed into a wall. Luke handily avoided it, and Percy just sent Riptide straight into the wall. Luke kicked Percy away and pulled Riptide out himself.

" _Dude! Get me back!"_ Riptide ordered. Percy shot Luke with a barrage of water jets, but they were all cut through; Percy gave them too much physical weight.

"Percy, stop!" Luke repeated. "I don't want to fight you right now."

"Enough talk!" Percy tried to keep him occupied, forming a blade made entirely of water, and attacked Luke once again.

Annabeth crept up as quietly as she could, to see what the telekhines were forging, and when she saw it, she instinctively knew what it was. It was a weapon designed to make all who saw it flee in terror. It was the blade that secured the Titan Lord his throne in the first place. " _By the gods…they're re-forging Kronos' scythe…"_ she thought. She wished she'd acted a little bit faster, to where she could've stopped what happened next.

"Lord Kronos!" one of the telekhines called out to Luke. "It's time!"

"Finally!" Luke said as the volcano shook, knocking Percy off-balance. Luke took the opportunity. He flung Riptide toward Percy, as it would've returned to him in a few seconds anyway, as it hadn't been properly handed over to another person. The son of Poseidon parried the thrown attack, and saw Luke leap down to the forging area. "If Percy is here, then so is Annabeth," he figured. "Where are you?" he called out.

Annabeth knew she couldn't hide; the monsters would sniff her out soon enough, so she just removed her invisibility cap. Luke looked strangely content with seeing her. "There you are. We need to go."

"What?" that threw her off. "Why?"

Before he could answer, Percy leapt down, now wielding Riptide once again, and jumped in front of Annabeth. "I'm sorry; I couldn't get him. He just…" he trailed off.

"It's fine," Annabeth assured, even though she knew it probably wasn't. "Why do we need to go? Where are we, even?"

Luke hesitated, as if considering whether he should tell them. Then he shrugged. "No harm telling you now, but we've only got about three minutes. This is Mount Saint-Helens; you happened to stumble across one of the few true Labyrinth exits, the ones that actually lead out of the Labyrinth. This used to be one of Hephaestus' forges, but he has long-since abandoned it. So we…accommodated it."

"To re-forge Kronos' scythe," Annabeth said. "Presumably, using your sword as a template. That's why you don't have it, right?"

Luke frowned momentarily, but then nodded, and smiled warmly toward her. "You always were the smartest of us, Annabeth. Yes, what you see before you is Kronos' scythe, the one that was used to slay him and his father Ouranos. Unfortunately, to fully power it, we need…a massive energy output. This happened to be the most convenient way."

"This…" Annabeth looked around them, and pieced it together. "You monster! You're going to let this place blow!"

"Wait, what?!" Percy questioned.

"Correct again, Annabeth. We will use the energy from the volcanic eruption to power the scythe."

"B-but…" Annabeth ran numbers through her head. "That could kill hundreds of thousands of people! It could injure many more, and cause illness and billions of dollars in property damage!"

"Even if I were having second thoughts, it's too late now," Luke gestured to the Labyrinth entrance, which was still open, and appeared, from this end, to just be a door. "And even if the telekhines can take it, we can't…well, I _probably_ could, but I'd rather not risk it, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to either."

Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other, trying to silently read each other's thoughts, but they were having difficulty. "…Fine, we'll leave," Annabeth spoke first, but Percy contradicted it, though not until they were already _at_ the Labyrinth entrance.

"No, _I'm_ staying," he announced.

"What? Didn't you hear me, Percy? You will _die_."

"No, I won't," Percy claimed. "Luke, you said you were using the energy of the eruption, right? Not the lava from the eruption itself?"

"…You aren't stupid enough to actually be thinking-"

"Then what about the energy to stop it?" Percy questioned. Luke would've almost found it funny. But he didn't.

"If you could do it, it would make no difference to me. The scythe would still be forged."

"Percy, no! You'll die!" Annabeth cried, her heartrate skyrocketing at the thought of separating from him. She felt tears well up and cascade down her cheeks. This was just too much to take.

"It'll be fine, Annabeth," Percy tried to speak calmly, even as his own heart pounded in his chest. He tried to give her _some_ kind of reassurance with his eyes, with the way he caressed her face as she cried. He soon found that he couldn't. He tapped Riptide onto his foot, retracting it back into a pen. "Here, this will be my collateral."

"W-what?" Annabeth wondered, as he handed his prized weapon to her.

"You're gonna give that back to me when we meet again, okay?" Percy said. Annabeth wanted to force the blade back into his hands, and pull him out of the volcano and back into the maze, but she had to be strong. She had to be strong just this one last time, at the very least, for Percy's sake. She nodded. Percy saw her insecurity. "Annabeth, I _have_ to do this. I _have_ to make this choice. If I can do this, and you get away, then that's okay with me. If I don't, then hundreds of thousands of people might die."

"I don't care!" the daughter of Athena cried. "So long as I have you, I don't care about them!"

"Annabeth…we both know that's not the truth," Percy said, caressing her face again. "Hey, I know you hate it when I just throw something into your hands, but I don't really have a choice here," he said, grinning sheepishly in a way she loved. "It's up to you to free Apollo, and get the remote. I probably won't be able to join you before that's done," he said. Percy briefly turned to Luke. " _You're_ going to make me a promise."

"W-what?" he seemed a bit off-guard with that statement. "Why would I-"

" _You_ are going to make _me_ a promise," Percy repeated, more forcefully this time. "You're going to see her back to Camp Half-Blood unharmed. You're going to do it."

"I-I-"

"Swear it on the River Styx."

Luke studied Percy carefully, and saw a man accepting his death with open arms. Ultimately, Luke knew that whether she made it back or not wouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things, if everything went according to plan. "I swear on the River Styx that Annabeth will get to Camp Half-Blood unharmed."

"Percy, please! Don't do this!" Annabeth continued to plead, even as Luke dragged her back into the Labyrinth.

Percy took a deep breath. "I might not get another chance to say this," he said, finally feeling his latent emotions and fears and insecurities and his strengths all finally aligning in this one moment. He leaned forward, and kissed Annabeth, possibly for the last time. Then they separated far too soon. "I love you, Brighteyes," he said, before pushing her fully through the entrance, and slamming the door in her face. Percy then made a weapon out of water and slashed the door shut permanently. " _Huh, so it probably would've been that easy back at camp…"_ Percy noted mentally. " _…Or maybe not."_

He marched over to the forge, where the telekhines didn't look too happy to see him. Actually, scratch that; they looked ecstatic in a hungry kind of way. "Goodie, goodie," one of them said. "It looks like we get a snack as a reward for our hard work."

"Let him simmer a bit in the lava before we eat him," another agreed. Percy had six of these things on him, slowly closing him.

Though, for the first time in six months, Percy didn't feel afraid or useless. He knew what he had to do; it was just a matter of doing it. The volcano shook again, as Percy built up an unreal amount of power within himself. He chuckled at the monsters' threats.

"You are all fools," he claimed, his voice a bit gravelly from effort, his sea green eyes shimmering with latent energy. "I'm going to crush you, and scatter your dust into the wind!"

If he had said that before, they probably would've laughed, but now, they stepped back, afraid, or at least uneasy. Percy felt himself lift off of the ground, supported by a thin lift of water, until he was out of their reach. Percy let his power build to its maximum and then even further beyond, until he let it all out with a thunderous roar that shook the earth and churned the oceans themselves. Percy's water erupted out from him in an explosion of force, as pain circulated throughout his entire body.

In that one moment, all of his life flashed before him and all of the lives that had touched his and that Percy had touched theirs flashed in his eyes. Chiron, Grover, Beckendorf, Silena. He thought about them all. Clarisse, Winona, Bianca. Even the ones he had failed. Sally, Tyson, Nico, Artemis.

Annabeth.

Hers was the last name he thought of before everything became just a blur of power and water, until he was enveloped in a deep darkness.

xxxXXXxxx

"Percy!" Annabeth cried. She ran back against the shut door and smashed her fist onto it repeatedly. "No, no, no, no, no!" over and over she hit it until her knuckles bled. Luke then had to drag her away, with tears cascading down her cheeks. "Let me go! I can still save him! I can-"

"No, you can't!" Luke snapped. "That's your pride talking, Annabeth!"

She quickly realized he was right, and stopped struggling, even as she still felt this massive gaping void open in her heart. Soon, she even walked alongside him.

Luke wasn't really sure what to do. He'd never been the best at comforting people. Even when it was him, Thalia, and Annabeth on the streets, it had always been Thalia who comforted the seven-year-old girl. "U-um…A-Annabeth, I…" he reached out, but then retracted, second-guessing himself. Then he reached out again, and lightly held her shoulder. "I'm, uh…" he didn't finish, as she ran into him, and buried her face into his chest.

Luke held his breath until she removed herself, which was in about a minute. When she stepped back, her eyes were puffy and blotched, but she shed no more tears. She still looked to be on the verge of them though.

"…Come back with me…?" she said quietly.

Luke turned away. "I can't," he returned. "Let's keep moving. I know the way back to your camp."

"No," she said, her voice surprisingly firm.

Luke, against his better judgement, let out a wry chuckle. "Pah! You don't really think you can free the sun god by yourself, do you?"

"…I won't be by myself," she said.

Luke studied the daughter of Athena. "I only promised-"

"You _never_ said you'd take me directly there," she interrupted. "And I'm _choosing_ to go back to Daedalus' workshop before we do."

" _Hey, no, blondie, that's a bad idea,"_ Riptide said in her head. Annabeth looked at the pen in her hand, as if just remembering she had it.

Luke's lip twitched in annoyance. He could tell why Percy fell for her; headstrong, smart, pretty…maybe a little bossy, from what Luke heard, but she never acted like that around him. He knew she had a crush on him, but it would never have worked out. For one; he was like seven years older than her, and second…he would never admit this, but he kind of had a thing for Thalia…

"What do you care?" Annabeth questioned to the pen, probably looking absolutely insane to Luke.

" _The kid gave me to you. So it's partly my responsibility to keep you safe; I'm a sword after all. And going to that place again has a major risk."_

"Which is…?"

"Who are you talking to?" Luke questioned.

" _Which is; you said yourself you don't trust him. He's almost definitely gonna turn on you!"_

"I don't have a choice _but_ to trust him, you stupid piece of metal," Annabeth stuffed it into her backpack. She saw looking staring blankly at her. "What?"

"Jeez, maybe what we did to you last winter did more than I thought…" he said, rubbing his chin.

Annabeth frowned. "Don't remind me," she said, her voice deadly serious, as they started forward again. Annabeth decided to take advantage of the situation. It was just them; no eavesdropping (besides that stupid sword). "Tell me why you won't come home."

"That camp isn't my home anymore," Luke returned. "You know that."

"But it could be, if you tried, if you explained to the gods."

"They'd vaporize me on the spot," he claimed. She turned away, because he wasn't exactly wrong. "Why won't you come join me?"

"Because I can't," she claimed, not elaborating because she didn't have another reason.

"Because you're in too deep at this point, right?" Reluctantly, Annabeth nodded her head. "Well, it's the same with me. There's your answer."

"So…you want to come back?"

"I didn't say that," Luke replied, his voice soon turning bitter once again. "I would rather die than swear allegiance to the Olympians ever again."

"Then…you're only staying because you don't think you have a place with us anymore?"

"Stop trying to look into my head," Luke warned. "It'll only bring you disappointment."

"Please, I can convince Chiron; Thalia and Zoë can convince the gods. You can come back with me, and-"

"No, Annabeth. I can't," was his final word on the subject.

"…You're talking like Percy did," she said, he lips curled into a frown. "It's pathetic."

Luke blinked, and let her walk a little bit ahead. He was actually kind of shocked that she'd say something like that, to the person who she just heard said he loved her. Then again, he hadn't witnessed the journey they'd gone through. The one that was about to end.

"We're here," Luke said a few minutes later, gesturing to the same door that Annabeth and her group of questers had used before. This time, when they entered, the lights were already on.

Daedalus at first looked confused, and then angry, when he saw them. "What's going on here?" he questioned, reaching for his sword.

"Daedalus," Luke greeted. "I know I'm early, but…"

"Why is she with you?" Daedalus questioned.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Annabeth inquired. "I thought…" she pieced it all together. "By the gods…Luke…you're working with him?"

"Was it a secret?" Luke asked.

"Then…you probably separated Percy and I from our friends, and you _knew_ he would stay behind!" she accused. Daedalus ignored her, more or less confirming it for the blonde.

" _Why_ did you bring her here?" Daedalus repeated.

"She says you offered her a deal," Luke explained.

"Oh…oh yes, I did…" the inventor nodded, as if just remembering. "But…" he drew his sword.

Annabeth reached for her Oathkeeper, but her arm froze. Her legs began shaking. " _Even Percy couldn't stand up to this guy…"_ she thought. " _But…Luke said I'd…"_ she looked over to him, but he showed no inclination of defending her. Daedalus approached her. Annabeth started stepping back. Soon, she felt her back run up against the wall.

"Heheh…look at you, little owl…you're still shaking in your boots, aren't you? You know fighting me is a hopeless battle," Daedalus mocked her.

" _What was Percy thinking? Sending me off to die…"_ Annabeth thought. " _…but…he sacrificed himself…so that you could do this…"_ that thought sobered her heart, slowing it down. She forced herself to think. Daedalus was right; she had no chance against him in a fight, just like she had no chance against Ethan, or Antaeus, or Geryon, or Bianca. " _But I'm not a fighter. I'm a planner."_

If Daedalus took one step closer, he'd be within striking distance. "I wouldn't go any closer if I were you, automaton," Luke warned, crossing his arms.

"What? Why?" Daedalus questioned.

"Because I promised that she would return to her camp unharmed. Even from you," Luke returned. Daedalus turned to him for a brief moment. Annabeth, in the blink of an eye, made her plan, by first digging out her cap, and putting it on while Daedalus was distracted.

She quietly moved toward his workbenches, which had all manner of gadget and, thankfully, bags to carry them. She started at the far end, the end furthest from the remote. Just beyond that was Apollo's cage, which she had to hope she could just break with her dagger, which she had drawn while invisible.

"You 'promised'? Your promises to the enemy are meaningless!" Daedalus argued.

"Anyone who thinks like that is no better than their enemy," Luke argued, even as his chest began to throb, as Kronos attempted to take control, to make things go his way and kill Annabeth. "Wouldn't you agree?"

"Victory is the most important thing," Daedalus claimed. "And if I have to kill and lie to the daughter of Athena, then I'll-" he turned back to where Annabeth once was. "…Where'd she go?"

While they were having fun conversing, Annabeth made sure to grab all of the tech that she could, including some weird flashlight thing, a laptop, some kind of special scissors, and Ariadne's original string, among many others; basically everything she could fit into the bag she was carrying, and then went for the remote. She reached for it, but reared back as she saw Daedalus swing his sword down onto it, stopping so short of hitting it that Annabeth was surprised she didn't hear it smash. She yelped in surprise, giving away her position.

Daedalus vaulted over the workbench, it was more of an island actually, and kicked where he guessed Annabeth was. Unfortunately, he was right. Annabeth was kicked away from the remote, but closer to Apollo. Her cap was knocked off, revealing Annabeth, still holding her dagger and her bag of stuff. Annabeth's attention flitted from one thing to another, trying to figure out the best way to do things. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no way anymore to get to the remote _and_ free Apollo. She had to make a choice.

She met Daedalus' eyes and a connection formed between them; a silent understanding.

There was such seething hatred in Daedalus' eyes, hatred bred from years of madness from the Labyrinth and (what Annabeth didn't know) induced by Minos. And yet, in Annabeth's, Daedalus saw a kind of inner strength that he had thought long dead within the girl. Hell, even _she_ was surprised at the decisiveness she was showing.

"Ha! Look at you, still trying to match your pride to your fear," Daedalus mocked, but then Annabeth smirked just the same as him. In fact, when doing it, you could almost mistake them for siblings…which they technically were.

"That's where you're wrong, Daedalus; I'm not _trying_. I _am_ matching them!"

Annabeth readied her dagger, and Daedalus expected her to foolishly charge. He underestimated her, however, as instead of attacking the automaton, she whirled around and slashed at Apollo's cage. While the blow to the cage itself didn't do much, Annabeth trailed off, slicing up the Celestial Bronze wires that connected to it. Thankfully, it broke just enough to open the cage. Apollo fell out, still in a vegetative state.

Daedalus looked to Luke. "What are you doing?! Stop her!"

Luke held his hands up. "Hey, I said I'd help you get him. I never said I'd help you keep him," he said.

"Fine! Then I'll do it myself!" Daedalus leapt at Annabeth as she knelt by the god of the sun.

"And I said 'back off'!" Luke launched a powerful kick to Daedalus, which sent him flying into the wall, indenting it. Annabeth was shocked at the force he displayed.

" _Guess that's what Kronos' power will do to you,"_ Riptide said in her head.

"Hey, carry him, and let's get out of here!" Annabeth said. Luke nodded, but hesitated, feeling that pulsing in his chest well up again, and this time much more forcefully.

" **I will kill all of the Olympians!"** Luke yelled, with golden energy welling up on his hands. His voice had changed as well. It now sounded split, between his normal voice, and one much deeper, much older, much more powerful. It was Kronos' voice. Luke shook his head.

"No! Get out of my head!" he snapped at himself, applying pressure to his temple. "You said next August! Wait until then!"

"…Luke?" Annabeth wondered.

"I'm…I'm fine," he said as he took several deep breaths. "But…don't trust me with the sun god."

Annabeth growled in frustration, as Daedalus started to recover from Luke's attack. "Fine! Then take these!" Annabeth shoved the bag and her cap into his hands, and wrapped Apollo's arm around her shoulder, before hoisting him up. She was tempted to tell him to take the remote, but she both doubted that he would, and he doubted that he would hand it over once they got away, so she refrained. Besides, she couldn't waste any more time. "Let's go!" With that, the two (three) of them dashed out the door, and threw Ariadne's string in front of them. "Take us to Camp Half-Blood!" Annabeth yelled, and it started going ahead of them. Daedalus was left in the dust.

Annabeth honestly couldn't believe that worked, and as she ran, she felt her knees threaten to buckle from fear. What had she just done? What had possessed her to stand her ground like that? She didn't even think of the consequences of failure, of the horrible things that he would have done to her, and it felt good to not have thought about them. In that moment, she felt alive again, even as the encroaching fear had threatened to swallow her whole during the entire encounter.

True, the day would likely come when she would have to face Daedalus, a fight between one child of Athena to another, but today, Annabeth had won. Little did she know how much it pissed the inventor off that she did, and little did she know how soon that day would come.

Daedalus watched them leave, not even trying to stop them. If he activated a trap, he'd kill Luke as well. Or rather, he'd try, and then Kronos would take over, pissed that Daedalus had tried to kill his host. So that was a no-go. "I'm wrong…?" Daedalus repeated the girl's words. "No…that can't be right! I'm _never_ wrong!"

"Really?" Minos emerged from the shadows, having watched the whole thing. "Because to me, it looked like she made a fool of you."

"No! You don't know what you're-" Daedalus' voice caught in his throat as he thought through who he was speaking to, and then he knelt. "M-master…"

Minos frowned at having been yelled at. "If you do that again, you _know_ what I'll be forced to do."

"N-no…please, I beg forgiveness!"

"Quiet, vermin!" Minos snapped. "Gather yourself. We will march on Camp Half-Blood soon, very soon. As soon as the order comes, we will march, no later."

"Y-yes…master…"

xxxXXXxxx

Along the way to camp, once the adrenaline had died down, Annabeth felt an overwhelming sadness once again. This was the second time she was returning to camp from this accursed maze, and she felt even worse than she did last time. Though, last time was because of failure. This time, it was because she lost the one thing she couldn't bear to lose.

"Percy…" she muttered his name. "…I did it…somehow…" she muttered. She felt more tears roll down her cheeks, and she didn't even care enough to wipe them away.

Luke and Annabeth arrived at Camp Half-Blood during dinnertime, a full week after the explosion of Mount Saint Helens (though it only felt like a few hours to the ones in the Labyrinth), so there were no guards. It was the one thirty-minute period that there were no guards, but Annabeth would tell them to change that when she spoke to Chiron next. Luke dropped the bag of stuff.

Immediately upon exiting the Labyrinth, Apollo's light returned. Just from being above-ground again, his body heated up to normal, and the sun just kind of…reignited. Apollo himself didn't seem to get any better, still a vegetable, but at least the sun was out…for a few hours, and then it would set again. But at least it was back. Annabeth set him against Zeus' Fist. She figured that, upon seeing the sun back out, the campers would rush to the entrance.

Though, Annabeth didn't know if she could face them, when they heard of the cost.

Luke turned back toward the Labyrinth. "Wait!" Annabeth called. "Stay, please..." she begged.

"We went over this already," Luke reminded her, even as tears fell as she thought of Percy. "Come on…don't be like tha-" he caught himself. He had to remind himself that they were on opposite sides. "I-I mean…"

"…If you go back down there, won't he kill you?"

"Daedalus?" Luke was glad she changed the subject slightly. "No. I own him."

"No, _Kronos_ owns him," she returned, her words snapping at him. "You don't have anything on that side."

"And what would I have on this side?" Luke questioned. "You?"

"Yeah, and Thalia. The others would come around eventually too," Annabeth figured. Luke soon realized that he would get nowhere from this.

"Goodbye, Annabeth," Luke began to descend into the Labyrinth. "When next I come here, it will be to see this valley in flames," he vowed, at the entrance closed behind him.

Even as he said the words, they felt like sand in his mouth. After feeling that cool summer breeze and smelling that familiar greenery…Luke wasn't sure if he could go through with it himself. He felt the tug of Kronos' will eating away at that thought, as he forced himself back to Daedalus' workshop.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey all! I'm sick, and am currently working through chapter 48 (BotL finale), slowly but surely. In the meantime, here's a chapter I've been waiting for fucking EVER to write. From the very start, I knew I wanted to keep in the volcano scene from the book, but I never felt it was worth a shit. Like it had just no impact, because there was still half a book left. Here, nearer towards the end, and with emotions of the characters being about as high as they can be, and with Percy's final words to Annabeth...oh! I've been waiting, and hopefully you guys liked it.**

 **So fun fact, I was originally going to split this one up and end it when Percy blacks out, but I ultimately decided not to do that, because I wanted the turning points for each character's arcs to be in the same chapter. So...yeah, you get more content.**

 **Anyway, because I'm on a high from this chapter right now, I figure now's a good a time as any to reveal what I picked as the ending theme to this season of The Cruel Spider. This one actually came to me just yesterday (as of uploading this). I've been struggling with just this placement for a long time, as my original pick didn't quite fit, but here it is. the ending song I've chosen is " _Heroes_ " by Brianthesun, English cover (released just three days ago) by Nathan Sharp on YouTube. Not only is it a fantastic song on its own, but Nate's translation and performance is just phenomenal. Relating it to Cruel Spider, the "it" mentioned in the song (in the cover anyway) I like to think is the blessing of the gods, and it's Percy singing it. By the end of the "it" and the singer is ready to move forward and become a hero. Not the one we deserve, but the one that we need to deserve to want to have to deserve...I think that's how the quote went anyway.**

 **Also, quick shoutout to the runner-up song, _Knew Day_ by (K)NoW_NAME (yes, that's how it's spelled). While I think it's a great song, where the singer admits they'd go through hardship and strife to find a "light" which I interpret as a person, to be able to meet with them again and again, even if the singer has to relive the pain they went through to meet that person, but...it's a bit of a stretch. The song is definitely higher on my favorites, but _Heroes_ just fits so much better to the story. Still, I might use it later as a character song; maybe in the sequel.**

 **Oh! And before I forget; the title is a reference to a song: A Hero's Desperation, from DBZ Budokai. It's a fantastic song and I imagine it would play when Percy is doing The volcano thing!**

 **Anyway, enough of my rambling; let me know what you guys thought in a review!**


	47. The Price of Freedom Is Steep

It turns out that Percy wasn't dead. Surprise, surprise.

He slowly listed back into conscious, feeling a rock and sway of whatever he was lying on. The sun's light pierced through his eyelids while they were shut, making it difficult to go back to sleep. He smelled the air; salty. Perfection.

At first, Percy thought that this was just his own personal heaven, but then he remembered that he was Greek, and this kind of atmosphere didn't really scream "Underworld" to him.

But he didn't want to open his eyes and wake up fully. His whole body ached, as if sore from a hard day of training. "Ooh…" Percy groaned, soon accepting his fate and opening his eyes to the blinding sunlight. He tried to recall what led him here, as he sat up and saw what "here" was.

He found himself on a small fishing boat, in the middle of the ocean. Which ocean? Percy could tell that it was the Atlantic. Sometimes those innate sea navigation skills came in handy.

"Ah, I see you're finally awake, son," a warm voice greeted Percy from behind. He turned and saw a middle-aged man, wearing Bermuda shorts and a Bahamas shirt. Percy would swear he'd seen him before. "Welcome back to the land of the living.

"How…how long was I out?" Percy wondered, trying to clear his head. He reached up and stretched his back, feeling strangely ready and willing for what lied ahead in the day, whatever that may be.

"Well," the man looked out to the sea. "I picked you up about a day ago."

"And…you left me outside?"

"The sun does ya good," was his justification. "Now, you wanna tell me-"

"What happened at Mount Saint Helens?" Percy interrupted. The old man blinked.

"Well, if you're referring to that explosion that came from it, that was a week ago."

Percy tried to grasp that. No wonder he felt really refreshed; he'd been asleep for a full week. Then again, he probably used up a week's worth of power to cause that explosion. "Did anyone get hurt?"

"No, thankfully. Whatever happened, if that explosion hadn't happened when it did, the eruption would've killed a whole lot of people," he said it resoundingly. Percy let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank the gods…" he muttered. "Wait…do I know you? I feel like we've met before…" Percy examined the man a bit closer. "Wait…you're that fisherman from last winter!"

"That I am. And you're that odd boy asking about strange, scarred men," the man returned. "So…how'd your whole plan go?"

"W-what?"

"You're plan, for your old man? You were gonna do something "he can't ignore", remember?"

"Oh, right…" Percy's thoughts turned bitter. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Well, then have you made your dream into an inevitability yet?"

"No, sir," Percy mood kept dropping. "And I don't-"

"And are you still fighting for other people?"

"Yes, I am!" Percy snapped, tired of listening to his questions.

The man didn't miss a beat. "Well, then you haven't really listened to what I had to say, now did you, son?"

"Because your advice isn't applicable to my life," Percy argued. "I _have_ to fight for someone else! I have to, because my life alone isn't worth the effort!"

The old man waited for him to continue, but he didn't. He just took several deep breaths, trying to clear his thoughts once again. "Son…I think it's time for you to do some hard thinking."

"What are you talking about? What do you know about me?" The old man chuckled. "You don't know a damn thing about me."

"Well, you're right. I don't. I was never a part of your life, just like you were never really a part of mine. But I will tell you this; you remind me a lot of my own son."

"What are you-?"

"He was always obsessed with impressing me, just like you are of your old man. Sure, he eventually sat down, got a wife and kids, but when the chips were down, he would do anything and everything to get my attention," the old man explained. "I was something of a great fisherman among certain circles, and he was always trying to 'live up to my name' and all that," the old man got a wistful look in his eye. Almost melancholic. "See, I took a remote approach to raising the boy. I let him come of age, which I deemed to be around fourteen, when I was first exposed to the real world by my father. Before that, I taught him how to fish, how to fend for himself, and everything else I used to live my own life. And then I sent him off, I stepped away, I washed my hands."

"You…abandoned him?"

"No," the old man's eyes got fierce for a brief moment. "Abandonment means I didn't care for him, and I did. But the thing is…I wanted him to be independent. I wanted him to learn that it's not important who your father is, or who your mother is, or what kind of family you were born into. What matters, in my experience, is everything else; the journey. The people _you_ meet along the way, and places _you_ go. Now, if they overlap with your folks, then I see no issue, but if you're trying to impress _me_ because I'm your father, you can be damn well sure I ain't paying you no mind. Because I'm not the one you should be impressing. See, all that time, he should've been impressing his misses, and his little ones, not me."

"Well…did he eventually learn?" Percy asked, even though he still couldn't quiet agree with the old man's methods. Even as he didn't agree with them, he found parallels with his own father, even through his own biases against the Olympian.

"No, no, he didn't," the old man continued. "He did what you said you were gonna do. He tried to do something that I couldn't ignore. There's this local legend in one of the islands down in the Caribbean. This monster of a fish; size of two men. I tried to catch it in my youth, but I had to good sense to leave it be. No man could catch it, but my boy…he tried to, and he didn't give up."

"…what happened?"

"Oh, well he died," the old man said it so dryly that Percy almost laughed. "Died trying to get my attention. It's a shame. Of course, it didn't help that he ignored my teachings, and went out during a damn storm, but hey…what can you do now, right?"

"…I'm sorry," was all Percy could say. "But…how does that relate to me? I wouldn't-" the old man met Percy's eyes, challenging what he was about to say. "I mean…"

Percy recalled how he was almost killed last winter, fighting in Poseidon's name so that the god would finally notice and accept him. It was basically the same concept.

"How it relates to you? Well, I suppose it ties back in to what I was saying. You gotta do some hard thinking, right now, if you're ever gonna live your life to its fullest."

"What about?"

"…Maybe you're right. Maybe you have to fight for someone else. So then, you gotta choose who to fight for. You said you had a girl, right?"

Percy nodded. "She's the most important person in my life," Percy said instantly, feeling warmth spread through his body when he thought of Annabeth.

"Then why aren't you fighting for her?"

"I…" he wanted to say that he was, always, but he wasn't. The only time Percy can recall that he was fighting for Annabeth was against Ethan, and…he won that fight. When he fought the Nemean Lion, he was fighting to protect his friends who were questing with him. Then when he broke Atlas' chains, what gave him strength was seeing Annabeth's smile. And again, at Mount Saint Helens; Annabeth was the person whose strength he relied on the most. He wasn't even thinking of Poseidon when he drew that unreal amount of power from himself.

"Instead of doing something your father couldn't ignore, a father who I'm guessing is never around, why don't you do something _she_ couldn't ignore? Or the countless other friends and family you've made along your own journey. Why don't you fight for them?"

Percy stood, and faced out to the sea, which helped him think. Every time he relied on Poseidon, on the gods, he'd been let down. Against Atlas, twice, first when he fought in Poseidon's name and lost, and then when Artemis proved no match against the Titan. Against Antaeus, as one son of Poseidon against another, Percy was powerless.

"I…" Percy struggled to form the words. "I…can't."

"What?"

"I can't fight for him," Percy said. "I can't fight for my father anymore."

"I can't hear you, son. You'll have to say it louder."

Percy, for some reason, got a big grin on his face. "I _won't_ fight for you anymore, father!"

It was strange, as if a massive weight had been lifted from Percy's shoulders. He no longer felt sore, and in fact, he felt like he could take on the whole world. He felt twenty times stronger than he did before. He felt like, for lack of a better word, a god.

"Good, that's what I want to hear," the old man said. "Now, how are you gonna prove it to him?"

Percy turned back slightly, a cocky smirk on his face. "I'm gonna _show_ him how far I've come," he claimed, before leaping off the boat, and crashing into the water. It had been so long since he felt so in control of his abilities. He propelled himself faster than a torpedo, and broke the surface, forming a wave to ride on. Soon, he was just a speck in the distance to the old man.

He had a content look on his face, the fisherman. "Good luck, Perseus. I hope to see you again soon," he said, before returning to his fishing.

xxxXXXxxx

Once Percy finally stopped, it had started storming. Percy used his powers to stand on the water. He made sure no one was around, for fear of having someone call the authorities or something like that. Thunder roared in the sky, and Percy figured it was Zeus preemptively deterring what Percy was about to do. He took a deep breath, and then yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Poseidon! Come face me!" The waves churned at the sea god's name, or it could've been Percy's influence. His powers felt so free and fluid now that he wasn't entirely sure. "I _won't_ fight for you anymore!"

The waves grew stronger and stronger. Finally, Poseidon spoke. It was odd, like Percy was hearing it through the crashing of the waves. "You have spoken of this before," the god claimed. "What makes this time any different?"

"Because this is a direct declaration!" Percy returned. "Face me in person!"

"A pitiful mortal, like you, has no right to demand that of a god," Poseidon sent a fifty-foot wave toward Percy, who blasted a hole in it so he wouldn't get washed away.

"I'm _not_ just a pitiful mortal!" Percy growled. "I'll prove it! Send everything you've got at me! I'll stop it!"

"Ha!" Poseidon's laugh shook the earth beneath the ocean. "You would be vaporized immediately!"

"Try it!" Percy dared, perhaps foolishly so.

"Hmph…very well. But I will make sure Hades is far from kind when you perish!" a light twinkled in the distance, and then grew brighter. The light resonated with power and energy in a way Percy had only felt once before, when he held Zeus' Master Bolt. He knew what was coming toward him.

Percy felt the tug at his gut, and willed the ocean to obey him, shooting the oncoming projectile with everything Percy had and more. He _knew_ he could do this. He had never been surer of anything in his life. He knew he could stop Poseidon's power because he knew that if he didn't, he would never see Annabeth again. He would never see her or Chiron or Silena or Beckendorf or anyone else that he'd grown to love over these past two years.

Percy poured everything he had into stopping this object. When Percy's own power met Poseidon's, a massive burst of pressure shot out from where they collided, forcing Percy to brace himself further. Percy succeeded in slowing down the object, but it was still approaching. The son of the sea god roared with effort, releasing every ounce of energy he could spare. A brilliant flash of green and blue erupted from him, adding to the force of his water. The projectile approached further, its power ejecting haphazardly behind it.

With one final push, Percy shot out more power, adding in water of his own creation, and then everything was quiet. Percy's hand was a centimeter away from Poseidon's trident, separated by water that was hardened by Percy's will. The power released every stopped the rain; Percy had unintentionally used it to aid him, as he did when tsunami-ing the Princess Andromeda last summer.

He was breathing deeply, so labored that he could hardly speak, even as Poseidon himself materialized before him. The god chose not to appear in his massive twelve-foot-tall form, but rather the one that stood just a few inches taller than Percy.

"…You're lucky you're the child of the Great Prophecy," Poseidon said, his own sea-green eyes boring into his son. "Or I wouldn't have thrown at only half-strength."

That hit Percy hard, but he refused to let it belittle him. "Don't you _dare_ coddle me, old man," Percy spat. "Go back and throw harder! I can take it!"

"…You haven't changed," he warned. "You're still the same arrogant, stubborn, reckless boy from before."

"…You're right," Percy admitted. "I'm the same me, and nothing you say is ever gonna change that," he claimed. Poseidon raised an eyebrow. "I'm done listening to you. I'm done taking your shit. You can say whatever you want about me, but I don't care anymore. _That's_ what's changed about me."

"Hmph," Poseidon didn't look impressed. "Then you would turn your back on the Olympians?"

"I never said that, not that you _ever_ listen to what I say with open ears," Percy insulted. "Kronos will fall," he vowed. "I'm going to kill him myself, but not for you. Not for any of the gods; the Titan Lord's demise won't be in your name, but mine!"

"As I said, arrogant," Poseidon lowered his eyes. "You are all words and no action."

"And you?" Percy returned. "All you talk about is yourself: I am pragmatic, I'm reasonable, I'm a god. Sound familiar?"

"…" Poseidon let the boy speak.

"You're no better than me. Only difference is, you fight for yourself, and I fight for others."

"Bold words, but let's see you back them up. You claim to kill Kronos yourself, and yet you couldn't defeat even that sorry earth child of mine."

Percy lowered his eyes. "…You're right…but unlike you, _I_ can grow stronger, infinitely stronger."

" _If_ you survive," Poseidon returned.

"I will," Percy assured. "And once this is all over, once Kronos is dead, and once Olympus is safe, I want out."

"Out of what?"

"Out of doing _your_ dirty work. Once this stupid Titan war is over, I want you gods out of _my_ goddamn life. And _you're_ gonna ensure that that happens, because after this, you're gonna owe me."

Poseidon raised his chin, and for the briefest of moment, Percy thought he saw the tiniest iota of pride in his eyes, but then they returned to being condescending. "The price of freedom is steep. Perhaps save the demands for if you succeed, boy."

"I _will_ succeed. I've already decided."

"Tch, and how are you gonna prove it?" Poseidon questioned.

Percy didn't have to think that hard about it at all. "I'm gonna kill the one man that has escaped the gods for millennia."

"The inventor?" Poseidon questioned. "You couldn't hold your own against him not one week ago. What makes you think-"

"Because now I don't have to bow down to you," Percy interrupted. "I can fight him on my terms, not weighed down by any other bullshit."

Percy's sheer confidence, not so much arrogance anymore, almost swayed Poseidon over to his side. "Fine, I will give you this chance. Accomplish this, and you will have earned your freedom. _After_ you complete your role in the Great Prophecy," he relented, seemingly reluctantly. "You're lucky; this coincides well with your quest. Even now, Daedalus marches with Kronos' army and Minos' dead army on your camp. I would say you have not twelve hours to reach them before your 'friends' are all wiped out. And you cannot defeat an army on your own."

"Good thing I won't be alone," Percy said, forming a plan in his head. "You're a god, right? Teleport me."

"Where?"

"To Antaeus' arena, in the Labyrinth," Percy announced. "I have to get someone else back on their feet."

Poseidon looked at his son once more, and this time, he did indeed see change in the young man. Poseidon smirked; if he didn't know better, he'd say he was getting attached to the boy. Poseidon held out his hand, and willed Percy to the location he desired, and then the sea god was alone.

xxxXXXxxx

Percy arrived in the darkness to hear soft sobbing. He reached into his pocket for Riptide, as the Celestial Bronze would've at least given a soft glow, but then he remembered that he gave it to Annabeth before he…yeah…

So, without Riptide, Percy had to use one of the unlit torches for light, managing to light it using leftover weapons. Immediately upon lighting it, and climbing over the railing to the upper level, he saw the corpse of Antaeus, with a puncture wound the size of Percy's torso seemingly drained of its blood. Instead, it seemed charred black, or at least blackened by some kind of force. Percy had an idea of what kind as well. He turned his attention to the source of the sobbing.

"Bianca?" he said her name softly, slowly shining the light on her. She was leaned up against the back wall, facing it, and curled up into a ball on her side.

"Go away…" she moaned.

"Hey," Percy tried to act sympathetic, even if he wasn't even entirely sure of the situation with her. He inched closer to her, and was surprised to find that she knew he was approaching, given her violent reaction.

"Go away!" she snapped, as dead hands erupted from the ground, blocking his way. Percy readied his own self-made water, in case she attacked. Bianca rolled over, and rose to her feet, looking like a literal demon; cloaked in shadow, even in the torchlight, with nothing visible above her shoulders but her ghostly white irises. Her hair seemed to stand straight up, looking like black flame enveloping her head. "I hate you!"

"Bianca…" Percy tried to find a way to calm her down. "…If you really hated me, why would you still be wearing my jacket? Surely you've had opportunities to change?" Bianca hesitated. From the shadows, Percy could see tears drip down onto the floor. The tension was so deafeningly silent that he could hear them hit the dry floor. "You said you wanted me, well here I am. We can talk this out, come on. Just…calm down…"

Slowly, Bianca's hair fell back into place, and her dead hands retreated back into the earth. The shadows disappeared from Bianca's face, revealing her sobbing even harder than before. "I…wear it…because it helps me…" she sniffled, dropping to her knees, and bringing her hands up to her face. In-between her sobs, Percy heard bits of manic laughter as well.

"Bianca…" Percy wasn't sure how to start. He knew he couldn't help her like this; she was just too far gone. "I'm sorry, Bianca. I never should've let you leave camp. It's my fault you're like this," he said, but she didn't respond. Percy knelt down in front of her, and put a hand on her shoulder. As soon as he did, she collapsed into his chest, letting out anguished cries that only one going through the darkest of times could emit. "But…I don't know how to help you…I'm not even sure what's wrong. Can you at least tell me that?" he wasn't asking if she was willing, but rather if she were mentally stable enough to retell the tale.

Bianca separated. "I…met Minos when I summoned the dead."

"Why?" Percy immediately had questions. Bianca didn't answer them, just continued.

"He said he would help me control my powers…and he did…but he betrayed me…he twisted me from the inside out, and-" she broke into a fit of manic laughter. Percy had to hold her down until it passed.

"…He drove you insane…he probably did that to Daedalus to, back when they were both alive…" Percy guessed. "What did Minos do after he betrayed you? Why did you kidnap Chris and Ethan?"

Bianca looked distant, like her consciousness was somewhere else. Percy snapped in front of her face. "W-what?" she seemed startled, like she drifted off. Perhaps her mind had, who knows. Percy repeated the question. "Minos told me to. He said we needed the crown, fueled by the blood of the living. It makes someone the Ghost King, and gives them control over the dead."

Percy nodded. If he had to guess, he figured Luke put him up to it, or maybe agreed to help him…or…no, then Ethan wouldn't have been a target. Or maybe…Percy shook his head. "Probably struck a deal along with Daedalus, or…maybe is planning to betray Luke? Too complicated," he concluded. "Wait, so he just left you here?"

"…He wanted to break me…and he did…"

"Yeah, you're telling me…" Percy agreed. He didn't see the need to pull punches, if she accepted it herself. "I…can't help you with this, Bianca."

"…No one can…"

Percy recalled that he'd said something similar to Annabeth about his own problems. "…You can," he claimed. "It's up to you to make that choice, Bianca."

She frowned and shook her head. "No, I can't…"

"Here," he pulled her up to stand. She was shaky on her feet at first. "I think…I think I have an idea," he said. He expected her to ask if it was stupid, but then remembered how utterly destroyed she was mentally. She might not have even recalled their time questing together, for all Percy knew. "I can make a guess as to why you would contact Minos in the first place," Percy said. For a brief second, Bianca's eyes lit up like they used to, but then it faded back into a dull madness. "You were…grieving over your dead brother, right? Long shot, but maybe you were trying to bring him back."

Bianca, once he said that, seemed to have something of a revelation. "I…forgot…about that," she muttered, almost inaudibly, because she was ashamed. But hey, being ashamed meant she had the sense to feel ashamed for something in the first place, so…win? "…It didn't work…" she said, now clearly recalling how Minos twisted that goal into a demented dream about Percy. She still wanted him so badly for herself…she doubted she'd ever be rid of these feelings again. It took all of her minimal willpower (at this point) not to claim him right there.

"And Minos fed you lies, and led you to this," Percy finished. "Here, we can go see him, I think."

"We…can?" Bianca wondered.

"In the Underworld, it's likely he went to the Fields of Asphodel or Elysium. Either way, you should be able to call him there, right?" Percy offered. Truth be told, he wasn't sure about the specifics of this stuff (why would he be?), but the logic seemed sound. And even if it didn't work, at least he could say he was trying to help her, and perhaps bring her back from the brink of madness that way. Percy smiled, trying to reassure her, as she looked unsure. "You never learned the Greek myths, did you? And Minos probably didn't tell you all that much about the Underworld, did he? He probably didn't on purpose, to keep you all to himself," Percy held out his hand, and Bianca warily took it. "Come on, I know how to get to the Underworld," he said, wanting to hurry to get back to Camp Half-Blood before everything turned to shit.

"I can…get there…" Bianca said, taking Percy's other hand, and enveloping them both in darkness.

"I, uh…" he felt woozy. "I don't think I like this…"

However, before he knew it, the darkness had engulfed them, and then, just as quickly, it retracted. When Percy looked around, he saw that they were at the Underworld toll booth, with Cerberus still there guarding it. The three-headed dog immediately recognized Percy, and jumped to his feet excitedly.

"Oh boy," Percy said before he was pounced on, with all three heads trying to lick him and nuzzle him. "Hey, boy! Oh, I missed you to!" Percy scratched behind each of the heads' ears. "I know, I know, I didn't come visit, but I've been busy, and…" he actually felt really bad about not coming back, and he really didn't have an excuse most of the time. "But I'll be sure to come back more from now on."

Cerberus nuzzled further against the son of Poseidon, and Bianca could only watch on, with vaguely melancholic eyes. She just stood there blankly. Percy stood soon too.

"Okay, okay, I gotta go, alright?" Cerberus whimpered. "I know, but I gotta help my friend," he claimed, gesturing to Bianca. Cerberus sniffed her, and she didn't react. She'd probably drifted off into her own little world again. "She's not too bad," he said, trying to goad her into acting like she used to. He grabbed her hand, and lifted it up. Cerberus sniffed it, and then pressed his head into it. Bianca was warmth on her hand for the first time in months, and she broke down crying again, running forward and getting a loving grip around Cerberus' middle head, with the others snuggling at her sides.

Percy couldn't help but smile, but knew he had to hurry. He couldn't afford to waste time. He grabbed Bianca's hand. "Come on," he urged, and she reluctantly parted from the pet, who stared longingly after them. "So…you're a child of Hades. Can you, like, sense your brother's eternal soul anywhere?"

Bianca hesitated. Percy waited for a few moments, and at first thought she'd drifted off again, but then she pointed to the EZ path, toward Elysium. The two walked through without a hitch, with the souls of the dead avoiding Bianca at all costs.

They arrived at Elysium soon then; it was simply a field of pure white flowers. It was pretty boring, but there were little floating lights or flames wandering about; Percy guessed this was how his brain was interpreting what a "soul" looked like. "So…which one is he?" Percy asked. Even as he said it, one light meandered up to them. "Is it this one?"

He turned to the daughter of Hades, but she looked terrified. "I-I…I can't do…" she stepped back, and shadows encroached around her feet, threatening to take her back down into insanity again. Percy grabbed her arm before she could run away.

"Yes, you can," Percy said. "You are the daughter of Hades, with control over the soul of the dead and the earth. You can do this," Percy assured. "I believe in you," That belief seemed to calm her down a little. "Can you give it form?" he gestured to the light.

Bianca took a shaky breath. "I-I…might…" she still seemed unsure, but held her hand out toward the little flame. Percy felt a small pressure release from her palm, and then the flame shifted and contorted into the shape of a thirteen-year-old boy.

It took a second for the spirit to focus on them. "Bianca…?" Nico's familiar voice came. Bianca froze upon seeing him. Nico reached for her, but she stepped back again. "Bianca…it's…" he reached again, but she held her hand out, and froze him in place.

"Your…you're not real…" she muttered, closing her eyes. "None of it is real…" as she said it, Nico's form began to dissolve.

"Bianca," Percy shook her. "Bianca, hey, it's alright," Percy assured. "Bianca, you're making his disappear."

She lowered her hand, and slowly opened her eyes. "He's…real?"

"He's dead, Bianca," Percy said. "But you called him back to talk to you," Percy explained.

Bianca started shaking. "…Nico…" more tears welled up.

"Hey, Bianca," Nico smiled; it was a strange sight. He then grabbed the back of his neck and looked a little bit bashful. "Um…now that I've got the chance to say this, um…sorry about not telling you I was following you guys."

"Why did you do it, Nico?! Why did you protect me! You were supposed to be safe at camp, not protecting me! I wouldn't have minded if I died, but you-" Bianca's voice caught in her throat. As she ranted, she found a surprising amount of stability in being able to do so. "…I loved you, Nico…and you left me…"

"Yeah, well…" Nico didn't really look sorry. "Better me than you," he said. "So…how've things been?"

 _That_ was the wrong question to ask. "Let's not talk about that," Percy suggested.

"No," Bianca said, turning away. "It's been a tough ride…"

"Yeah, I can tell. You look like hell," Nico claimed. "…You tried to bring me back, didn't you?" Bianca nodded, not daring to face him. "…Well, there _is_ a cure for death, but you won't find it," Nico claimed. "So I'd give it up."

"But…I _want_ you back!" Bianca cried.

"And _I_ wanted you by my side at Camp Half-Blood," Nico returned, surprisingly bitter. Bianca reared back. "…I'm sorry…it wasn't your fault."

"No, it…was…" Bianca said. Percy, around this point, noticed that her symptoms of insanity were slowly fading, or at least lessening, which made him hopeful. "I chose to join the Hunters…"

"No, it's not," Nico repeated. "Trust me."

"…How do you know?"

Nico stared off wistfully. "Well…I've had plenty of time to listen to old stories; most of the souls you see are of heroes from the past, some of them were children of Hades, like us. They told me of our fatal flaw, and why we're so hated and feared by other demigods, in general."

"Why?"

Nico turned back to the demigods. "The fatal flaw of the children of Hades is excessive obsession," Nico explained. "Whether to a person," Bianca and Percy shifted uncomfortably away from each other. "Or to an idea. Anything that we see, that we want."

"Like bringing you back," Percy offered.

"Or wanting to be free from responsibility," Bianca added. "…that makes _way_ too much sense."

"The reason we're generally so reviled is that our fatal flaw isn't strictly fatal to us. Well, it can be," he gestured to himself; he'd died because he was obsessed with protecting Bianca. "But more often than not, it's fatal to the people around us."

The demigods recalled when Bianca mercilessly killed both Geryon and Antaeus to further her goals, and tried to kill Annabeth for the same reason.

"Nico, you're…a lot wiser than before…" Bianca noted, a bit shocked at herself that she was able to recall a time where he was around. She'd thought Minos erased all of those memories.

"Really?" Percy questioned. "He seems about the same to me. I'm not seeing it."

"Well, she also called you a hero, but I'm not seeing that either," Nico mocked dryly.

"Yep, still acts the same," Percy concluded.

"I-I…" Bianca spoke up. "I'm sorry, Nico…"

"Hm? About what?"

"About…I forgot about you," she admitted. "There was a guy, he…tricked me…and…"

"I know," Nico said. "Minos."

"…Okay, how?" Percy questioned.

"We get regular updates about the goings on of the mortal world. I asked about you, and…yeah…didn't think ask until you'd already forgotten about me, though," he said it as if it was a normal occurrence.

"Listen, sis, you've gotta-"

"Don't say go back to him," Bianca begged. "I don't ever wanna see him again…"

Percy gulped; he was planning on asking her to fight him off. Luckily, he didn't have to persuade her himself. "Bianca…you've been through a rough time, I get it. But…you've gotta do this."

"I can't," Bianca repeated. "He's the Ghost King, he has more control than I do. I can barely shadow-travel!"

"Bianca, just because he wears a crown, doesn't make him a King," Nico said. "Being a King is about garnering loyalty from your subjects. In this case the dead, and in our case," he smirked. "Garnering fear from our subjects."

"But…"

"Bianca, you've got to do this," Nico claimed. "I may not be alive to celebrate, but the people at Camp Half-Blood won't survive without your help."

"I…I'll try…"

"Come on, sis," Nico reached like he was about to pat her shoulder, but he stopped when remembered that he was just a specter. "You're terrifying when you're mad. Just get mad at Minos; I know it won't be hard."

"I'll do my best," Bianca assured, sounding a bit more confident this time.

"Well, it's about time for me to go," Nico said.

"W-wait!" Bianca reached for him, her confidence gone. "Don't leave me again! I don't want to be alone!"

Nico blinked. He couldn't recall a time when he'd been asked to stay. Not to mention, he still _did_ love his sister with all his dead heart, but…

"Well…" Nico thought about it. "There _is_ something I heard children of Hades can do."

"W-what?"

"Children of Hades can form weapons using the souls of the dead; the closer the soul is to the user, the stronger the weapon. The thing is, you'd need to let the weapon temper in the River Styx so it could take physical form."

"A-anything! Just don't leave me!" Bianca pleaded.

"Egh, jeez, now I'll have to wander all over the place with you…hm…choices…"

"Nico!" Percy snapped, getting impatient.

"Alright, alright. Now just a warning; I've been told that if anyone else uses this weapon, that their soul will be sucked into it, so…be careful. Hold your hand out."

Bianca complied, holding it out for him to see. Nico held his own out, and they met. A dark light formed between them, as Nico's form slowly disappeared. The dark light grew brighter (if that makes sense), and when it fade, Nico was completely gone, and in Bianca's hand was a kind of astral projection of a one-handed long sword. It certainly didn't look Greek.

"To the River Styx, I suppose," Percy said. Bianca nodded, and shadow-travelled them to the dead river. Once they arrived, Bianca knelt at the river's bank and dipped the sword into it. Steam rose that she was cooling hot metal, and when she removed the blade from the water, it revealed that same blade, but it was a sheening black, like obsidian.

It felt so right in Bianca's hands, and she momentarily forgot about her pain and sadness. It was like she innately knew how to use it at its full capacity. She raised it high, and then flicked it downward. The sword cracked and extended outward, with parts of the blade breaking off and looking like teeth. They were all connected by a silvery, flexible shaft, like a whip. Bianca swung it, and at its longest it reached about thirty feet. She then hit the pommel of the blade against her hip, and the whip retracted back into a blade.

Percy was sure if Riptide were here, it'd be gawking, and Percy was too. "That's…supremely cool," he said. Bianca smiled at that.

"I can feel him," she said. "He's guiding me."

"Right…does the sword have a name?" Percy wondered off-handedly as Bianca strapped the sword to her belt.

"I think…it wants to be called Adelfosyni."

"Brotherhood," Percy translated. "It fits," he mentioned, and she nodded. "So…are you gonna be okay now, do you think?"

Bianca thought about it; it was a plus that she _could_ think clearly. "I don't know. Nico said that I can become obsessed with anything I can see, so…" she let shadows form around her.

"I don't think he meant literally," Percy noted, but Bianca persisted. She actually hardened the shadows? That's not the right word; she made the shadows into like a cloth? Hmm…wonder if there's a word for that. Anyway, she did that, and took a piece, tying it around her eyes. She raised her head once it was on, and faced Percy.

"How does it look?" she wondered, sounding surprisingly normal.

"Um…like a blindfold…?" Percy wasn't sure how to answer that. "And, um…how are you gonna fight when…?" he recalled Prometheus' offhand comment.

" _The children of Hades, who can see clearly in the deepest darkness."_

"I can see you, sort of," Bianca claimed. "It's weird, like I see a light inside you, and that illuminates what's around you."

"So…you see _my_ immortal soul…"

"Um, yeah!" Bianca grinned. Percy offered a smile of his own, glad that she was acting relatively normal, but that was just fucking weird. Zoë was right when she said that the powers of Hades were fickle. Percy would've used the term "fucking odd" but hey. "I mean, I can't, like, see the color of your eyes, or your shirt, or anything like that, but I can tell that," she reached and grabbed his hand. "That this is your hand," she flicked his nose. "And that's your face."

Percy nodded, just accepting it. It was far from the weirdest thing he'd seen in the past two years. "Alright, now, it's time to go to Camp Half-Blood."

"Wait, actually, I have an idea," Bianca said.

"Bianca, we don't have time to-"

"It'll only take a minute," she assured. "So, you know Achilles?"

"The legendary swordsman? How could I not?"

"Well, he bathed in the River Styx to gain his abilities. And…here we are," she gestured to it. "It's dangerous, but…it might give you an edge."

Percy considered this. "What would it entail?"

"Well, when Achilles got it, his speed, strength, reflexes, and endurance all increased exponentially compared to a normal man. He also gained skin impervious to damage, save for his heel, where his mother held him when she dipped him in."

"Hm…" Percy considered it, sure, but he shook his head. "No, I don't want it."

"But…why not?"

"I'm sure it would help, but I don't think now's the right time," he said. "I've gotta do this with just me, my own skills. I've gotta prove to myself that I can, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah…yeah, I think I do," Bianca said, beginning to envelop them both in shadows. "Long Island Sound, right?"

"Right," he said, taking one more look at the River Styx. "It's a matter of principle."

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys! So, I have some bad news. Because of a combination of things, I will most likely not be able to finish the BotL finale for tomorrow. I apologize in advance. I'm still going to try, but to get the quality that is expected and all of that, I need to be able to spend time and energy on it, and I didn't even have the energy to proofread this chapter before posting it. It's just, I'm sick and lack energy that way, and tomorrow from 5:30-12:00 in the morning is my first day of work, and I can't miss it.**

 **So yeah, I really hate to do this, because I've had a really good record up to this point, but I'm calling it that I'll have to delay the posting of chapter 48, so...apologies again, but hopefully you can understand.**

 **On a brighter note, I would like to thank you all for two really important milestones for me. First, we've reached over 35,000 total views, so thank you. And, as of today, we're over 150 individual reviews, so again, thank you. Please keep posting them, and I will try to keep getting content out for you guys.**

 **Have a great day!**


	48. War's First Blood Shed

Annabeth opened her eyes to the bottom support of the bunk above hers. Her sleep was restless, and filled with nightmares. She awoke feeling lonely, and yet she had no one to comfort her, not on the level she needed. "The man I love is…dead…" she muttered to herself. She was really just testing to see if she would cry more; she'd done so almost nonstop the previous day.

Today, no tears were shed. " _Ugh, you aren't gonna do a Moulin Rouge thing where an unconscious Argentinean falls through the ceiling, are you?"_ Riptide sounded tired. It'd been up trying to offer solace to Annabeth, so she let it have that one.

She slowly stood up, and stretched her back. She was told to stay in bed and rest today, but she wasn't one for lying down. Though, she wasn't much for breaking rules (most of the time) either. "…What're we gonna do now?" Annabeth asked the sword, once she confirmed that she was alone in her cabin.

" _…I guess wait for him_ ," Riptide said. _"He said he was coming back. I'm willing to believe that._ "

"…" Annabeth wasn't so sure. Sure, he was the strongest demigod she knew, but… "He probably burned up in the explosion," Annabeth said the words robotically, so as to distance herself artificially from them. "So what do we do?"

" _I don't know,"_ Riptide said. " _Business as usual?"_

Annabeth nodded, but didn't know what that was. Her whole day at camp was inadvertently centered on Percy; she always longed to see him, especially this particular summer, and she did what she could to share tasks with him. It felt right. Now, she was scheduled to do those things alone. Annabeth bit her lip, trying to ward off those thoughts, but they just kept flowing in.

" _What would he think, seeing me like this?"_ Annabeth thought to herself, chuckling a bit as she wiped her eyes. " _He'd probably offer to sing Frank Sinatra; he'd been practicing 'My Way' lately."_

And now she'd never get to hear it.

Annabeth left the cabin. She didn't want to be alone in her thoughts. She needed to distract herself, hoping that her ADHD would help with that. She began wandering camp.

xxxXXXxxx

"What do you mean you won't march with us?!" Minos demanded, as Luke kept a straight face. "You insolent brat! We've been planning this for _months_!"

"What? You don't think you can handle it?" Luke questioned. Minos drew back. "And I came to talk to Daedalus, not some dead king."

"It is _Ghost King_ , and I _own_ that pathetic inventor!" Minos roared.

"No, _I_ own him," Luke's eyes glowed golden for a second, as he reminded Minos of who was inside of him. "And _you_ will do what I say. March without me, tonight."

"Why tonight?" Daedalus wondered in the background. Minos shot him a menacing glare, and it quieted him.

"Because, that's when they'll be most vulnerable. Their traditions aren't suited for war just yet. You'll have a wide time-window as well, roughly two hours to strike. Is that enough?"

Minos never ceased his glare. "Pft, I could run them down in a quarter of that time!" he boasted. "We will outnumber those pitiful demigods three to one, with your army of monsters, and my army of the dead. They will perish before they can even react."

"Actually, if possible, I want them alive," Luke claimed. "Destroy the valley, spare the lives. If possible, they'll be turned and add to the Titan Lord's power."

Minos resumed his glare, as Luke was taking out all of the fun. "…And if they resist."

"…Then it can't be helped. If and only if they refuse to surrender, you can kill them," Luke ordered. Even as he said it, he had a feeling there wouldn't be any survivors. Minos didn't roll that way. He would have his fun with individuals, but group of enemies he'd usually just massacre.

"And what will you do? Why are you backing out?"

Luke hesitated. "…I'm going to retrieve Lord Kronos' scythe, for the battle next summer."

"You could get there and back before we set off if you-"

"No," Luke interrupted. "I'm not staying in this accursed Labyrinth any longer than I have to. I'll go above-ground," Luke announced. "Kampê will meet you along the way," he claimed. With that, Luke took his leave.

xxxXXXxxx

Annabeth first checked in with Chiron at the Big House. He offered a friendly smile when she entered. "Ah, Annabeth. How are you feeling?"

"Better," she claimed. That was only half of a lie. Physically, she _did_ feel better. She felt much more able now then she did when she first began the quest, that's for sure. It was just the emotional and psychological damage that persisted. "Thanks."

"That's good," he offered her a seat and a goblet of Diet Coke. "What is it you need?"

"Any word on Rachel and Grover?"

"I have contacted Hermes, who is searching for them; even the Olympians tend to notice when the Oracle goes missing."

"Have you tired to Iris-Message them?" Annabeth wondered.

"That was our first attempt. I'm afraid we were unable to send one to them."

"O-oh…" she looked down. Annabeth had tried sending one to Percy, but that one didn't go through either. It was like Iris was messing with the daughter of Athena; she wanted to at least confirm his fate. As of now, she was just left guessing. "Well…what about Quintus? He's working with the enemy, and he's mapped out camp. We should-"

"Proper safety measures have been taken," Chiron assured. "Double patrols, no one allowed into the woods without supervision, et cetera."

"Okay, um…" Annabeth tried to keep her mind on logistics. "What about Apollo?"

"Still out of it, I'm afraid," Chiron claimed. "Perhaps go to Win for more information."

Annabeth nodded, stood, and hugged the centaur for his help, before leaving and heading straight to the infirmary. When she arrived, Annabeth saw the young girl sitting beside her father, her expression troubled. She could hardly imagine what the girl must be going through, seeing her father, a god of Olympus and bearer of the sun that lights the sky, reduced to nothing but a husk.

"How is he?" Annabeth wondered, sitting down beside the daughter of Apollo. "Any changes?"

"Nothing. He doesn't even respond to any stimuli," she claimed. "It's like he's in a coma, but he should, by all means, see things and smell things."

"Maybe he just…doesn't want to anymore," Annabeth suggested.

"What do you mean?" Win was curious for any kind of answer for this mystery. "Like he gave up?"

"Well…" Annabeth was hesitant to share her time spent in the Labyrinth, but she eventually relented. "That place, the Labyrinth, isn't natural. It's designed to confuse and disorient people. It even drove a few demigods insane, like Daedalus and a daughter of Hades. I don't think it's out of the question to say that Apollo might be feeling something similar."

"So…do you think there's a cure?"

"There _is_ no cure for insanity, Win," Annabeth claimed. "Unless you want to make his brain into even finer jelly than it already is."

That didn't seem to make her feel any better. "R-right…" Win just let the answer linger. "I just…wish he would talk to me…"

"Who? Apollo, or Michael?" Annabeth tried to get her mind off of the god of the sun, but Win was having none of it. It wasn't the first time she'd glared at Annabeth, but she could count the number of times on one hand, that's for sure.

"I'm not in the mood for that," Win said. Annabeth nodded and, realizing she was no longer entirely welcome there, took her leave.

She returned to the Big House. Chiron asked her how Apollo was doing, and Annabeth just answered with "More of the same."

"I see…it is a shame; even I couldn't imagine the toll this conflict would bring," Chiron said, upon reflecting the losses. "With many more to come, I'm afraid."

"…I should probably go get the daughter of Hades," Annabeth said. "She's the next in line to be the child of the Great Prophecy, after all."

"True…perhaps wait, though," Chiron suggested. "You're going through a…hard time."

"To put it lightly," Annabeth returned. "Where's Ethan?"

"In the basement," Chiron said. Annabeth grimaced. Now, this might have seemed like irresponsibility on Chiron's part, letting him wander around down there by himself, but no. That basement was coated with Celestial Bronze on every surface, including the door that led out of it (or into it, depending). There were no other features, just you (whoever is down there) and your reflection in the metal. Among campers, it was considered the highest form of punishment one could receive.

Percy was thrown in there once during his second summer there, for disobey Chiron and getting caught (that's the trick), and he described it to Annabeth as being the most evil thing Chiron could do to him. Though, Percy also had Riptide annoying him the entire time, so that probably made it worse.

Hesitantly, Annabeth unlocked and opened the basement door, entered, and shut it behind her. "Ethan?" she called, a bit worried that he'd jump out at her. Her fear of such a thing, and being used a hostage because of it, was as potent as ever, but Annabeth now forced it down.

"Down here," he answered, surprisingly casual in his tone. Annabeth descended the stairs and saw that he was provided a table and deck of cards. "Wanna play war?" he wondered.

Annabeth's eye twitched; she couldn't help but feel that that was subliminal messaging for Kronos' invasion. She nodded, and sat across from him. His hands were no longer bound, but he was chained in place by his feet; he could make it to just the bottom stair or to the opposite wall before the chain would have reached its limit. "Have you just…been down here playing cards?"

Ethan nodded, not really thinking much of it as he dealt out the deck. "I'm pretty sure I have a guess as to why you're here," he said. Annabeth just stared at the cards. She really _didn't_ have a reason to be here; she was going through her mental checklist and making tabs on everything. Nothing more. Still…while she was down here…

"I came to ask if you wanted to help us."

"Not gonna happen," Ethan responded.

"…Thought it was worth a shot," the daughter of Athena claimed. "…But why not?"

"…" Ethan glared at the girl with his one eye. "Because I'm not a fan of suicide."

"You think we'll lose the war," Annabeth guessed.

"I think you'll lose everything," Ethan clarified. "You know an attack is coming; you must know."

"And we're prepared for it," she claimed. Ethan laughed.

"Yeah, no you're not. You have no idea what you're in for," he claimed.

"…" Annabeth decided to make the man an offer. "How about this? If we survive this attack, you join us."

"No," Ethan answered.

"But why not?"

"Just because you 'survive' doesn't mean you have a chance to win the war," he reasoned. "You've got zero chance to come out on top, or at least with any amount of sizable numbers on your end still standing."

"You don't have a lot of faith in demigods, do you? You think we're worthless."

"I think we're slaves," he said. "Nothing we do is ever gonna change that. Now here's the situation: Kronos is rising and he's going to destroy the Heart of Olympus. That's fact, and you can't change that, none of you. So the way I see it, I join him; at least that gives me a chance as living through this hell."

Annabeth tried to think of something to change his mind, but nothing came. "…Maybe you're right," she returned. "Maybe we don't have a choice or any bearing on the outcome. But one of us does; a child of the Big Three. You don't have anyone like that on your side."

"Neither do you, anymore," Ethan returned.

"But when one shows up next, we'll take them. If necessary, Artemis can retract her blessing on Thalia, and _she_ could be the hero."

"Not likely," he said. "Besides, she betrayed you once; what's to say she wouldn't do it again?"

Annabeth bit her lip. "I have faith that she won't. What do you have?"

"Hope," Ethan returned, collecting the last of the deck. "I hear that's something you've been lacking lately."

Annabeth tucked her brow into a scowl, but didn't say anymore. She just stood, and took her leave. She didn't need that kind of crap anymore.

The rest of the day proceeded as such, with her going from one place to another and just being…turned away, toward something else. It wasn't all bad; it kept her mind from wandering too far off of what she was doing in the moment, which alleviated her despair.

Then, at sunset, it was time. Annabeth sat on the banks of the Long Island Sound. Here, she was alone with her thoughts once again. "I've heard there was a secret cord…that David played and it pleased the Lord…but you don't really care for music…do you…?" she hummed softly to herself, trying to remind herself of better times. "It goes like this, the fourth the-"

"Annabeth!" Silena called. The daughter of Athena turned back to see her friend coming toward her. Annabeth stood. "Are you ready?" she asked. Annabeth nodded, knowing what she was referring to. She followed the daughter of Aphrodite up the hill, where most of camp, save for those watching over the infirmary, such as Win and Michael Yew. Four or five Ares kids were also watching the Labyrinth entrance; mostly the ones that hated who went on the quest, like Sherman.

The burning of the burial shrouds.

It was a ceremony traditional for a quest's end. Most all of the camp attends, period. Unless you have a good excuse like, say, caring for the sun god who also happens to be your father, you go to the burning. Annabeth requested it that, instead of being held in the dining pavilion, it be held near the Long Island Sound. She felt it would be right, was her only reason, to have it nearer to the water.

There were two burial shrouds, as was tradition for those officially given the quest; Annabeth's and Percy's. For those who returned, their shroud was burned with normal fire, and those who didn't were burned with Greek fire, it's signature green flames painting a striking image up against the scenery behind them.

Annabeth's own was similar to when she left with Percy to find Zeus' Master Bolt; silver with a golden owl emblazoned on it. She was surprised her cabin put in so much effort, considering what a piss-poor job she was doing of being a demigod when they made it. Percy's was made of a beautiful sea-green silk, matching his eyes. He had three symbols from his various quests (because he was never claimed, he couldn't have a symbol of a trident); a lightning bolt and the Fleece on either side, and behind them was the full moon. Apparently, Silena had helped design it, to show her gratitude for him being a friend. Gods know that the Stoll's wouldn't have made something this nice.

The shrouds were lit aflame, and the ceremony commenced. Some of her cabinmates and friends spoke for Annabeth's turn, saying kind words and saying how they'd accept the losses and be thankful at least she came back. When Percy's turn came up, it was all of the people who he'd become such good friends with these past two years; Beckendorf, Silena, Clarisse (yes, even her). Then Annabeth's turn was up.

She stood in front of the camp, with the heat of the fire at her back. She wanted to be strong. She wanted to say encouraging words like the others had, but in that moment, all of her sadness and despair came back full-force. Her knees shook, and her hands became clammy. She struggled to find the words. What could she say that would explain why she just left him on his own? There was nothing.

Annabeth saw that the campers were getting impatient. So, she said the only eleven words that could come to her mind; eleven words that lingered in her own mind all day, in the back of her head, and why she didn't feel at all accomplished about her very first quest. "…He said he loved me…and I didn't say it back…"

Tears streamed from her eyes as she just let the words ring through the crowd. Silena came up to Annabeth first, and took her shoulder, before leading her away from the group so she could vent out her emotions.

Annabeth had to admit what a good friend Silena was; she was almost always there when Annabeth needed a pick-me-up, and now would definitely constitute. "Don't worry, Annabeth," the daughter of Aphrodite said as she rubbed her back gently. "He's in Elysium now; I know it. He'll be just fine," she assured. Annabeth could only nod. The two stood there for a while, away from everyone else, actually around a corner and a ways away.

Then, something completely unexpected happened; they were attacked.

It came out of nowhere, but suddenly, four enemies appeared before them and surrounded the two; three dracanae, and one rogue demigod. "What-" Annabeth didn't even get to finish her question before a sword was pointed in her face.

"Keep quiet, and we'll let you live," the demigod claimed.

Surprisingly it was Silena who acted. She quickly and subtlety judo-threw the demigod and created an opening. "Go!" she urged Annabeth to run, and she obliged, expecting Silena to follow. She didn't stop to look, however, until she passed through and hid behind a building. Then she realized that Silena wasn't at her side anymore.

She shook her head and silently apologized to her for leaving her behind, and kept moving, knowing there was nothing she could've done.

Little did she know that Silena was still alive and well. The demigod whom Silena threw burst back up and pointed the sword in her face. "Stupid love child…I should _gut_ you for that!"

"You _won't_ harm a hair on my head," Silena claimed. "No matter what I do to you."

The boy, looking no older than fourteen, scoffed. "And why is that?"

"Because if you do, I'll have Luke gut _you_ in return," Silena threatened. The tone of her voice made it sound like she wasn't kidding. The boy seemed at first intimidated and then just confused by this.

"Just…just put your hands up and keep moving," he said, poking her back and leading her to the other group of campers. While they were having their little scuffle, the majority of the enemy had taken the time to surround the other Half-Bloods. It was an odd mixture of enemies; skeletons, monsters, and rogue demigods, all working together.

"What the hell is this?" Clarisse demanded. She tried to fight back, but a couple of other campers held her back so Chiron could speak.

"What is the meaning of this?" Chiron demanded. "Who's in charge?"

"I am," a sinister voice emerged, as the enemies' ranks parted to let a man walk through. He had ghostly white skin, almost no muscle, so you could see his bones. His eyes were this disturbing mix of white pupils, scurvy yellow irises, and black…that other part of the eye. "How do you all do? I am your King, Minos."

"You are King of no one," Chiron said, his voice calm and steady, even as the campers were basically beaten before any of them fought back. "And you have not been since the early days of Crete."

Minos scowled at the centaur. "Tch, such are the words of barbarians," he insulted Chiron. "If I am not a King, then surely I would not have command of this fine army?"

Chiron ignored the ghost-given-flesh, instead turning to his now-subordinate. "Quintus. I had wondered where you wandered off to. Though, if I'd have known you were comingling with the enemy, I would perhaps not have let you train the children."

Daedalus opened his mouth to speak, but Minos put his hand up. "You won't speak," the ghost ordered. Daedalus turned away, looking both ashamed and livid. Minos turned his attention back to Chiron. "Now…I assume you know why I'm here?"

Chiron glared at the deadite, but didn't say anything, knowing his options were limited.

xxxXXXxxx

Annabeth dashed around camp as fast as she could without being seen. She at first went the armory, but saw a horde of skeletons (and only skeletons it seemed) guarding it. Then she went toward the infirmary, but was blocked off as a group of demigods and dracanae approached it. She hoped Win would be able to escape, preferably with Apollo in tow.

Finally, she headed to the cabins, where she had to finagle her way past some rudimentary security, and into the Athena cabin. Once she was inside, she was relatively safe, and that's exactly what she wanted to be.

" _No!"_ she yelled in her head, slapping her cheeks a bit. "Stop _thinking like that, you coward! Show some goddamn pride for once in your pathetic life!"_

Annabeth tried to recall how she felt when she was freeing Apollo, but she just couldn't. The facts kept her from that feeling; there, she was against a much more powerful opponent. Here, she was up against that same guy, plus about two hundred other enemies, with all of her friends gathered in just one spot for the slaughter, weaponless.

She tried to think of Percy, of what he'd do in this situation…and then she realized that he'd probably charge Daedalus like an idiot and get himself killed.

" _Wait!"_ Annabeth thought. " _My dagger is…"_ she silently cursed herself. " _Still at the burial shroud area. Fuck! I have Riptide, but…"_

" _You wouldn't last two seconds with me,"_ Riptide claimed. " _Only the sea kid is trained with me specifically."_

" _I should still be able to-"_ Annabeth thought back.

" _Hey, I'm not the only weapon in this room,"_ it claimed. " _Poseidon has his Trident, and you have yours._ " A lightbulb lit over Annabeth's head, as she dashed to her nightstand drawer, and opened it. There, a dagger, one specifically made for combat, lay in its sheathe. Annabeth slowly unsheathed the leaf-designed blade, and saw those two words etched into the end. She'd completely forgotten about them, and immediately felt a massive wave of sadness at having not followed them. They just kept repeating the same mistakes and giving into their woes and despair.

"Evermore onward…" Annabeth muttered, holding the blade at her heart, and steeling herself for what was ahead. "I swear on the River Styx I'll follow those words to the end."

She also managed to find a shield under one of her cabinmates' beds, which they weren't allowed to have. Annabeth would have to chew them out if they both survived this…then again; Annabeth technically wasn't allowed to have either a phone or this dagger in here either, so…she might have to not harp on the guy too much.

In any case, Annabeth's mind was made up, and prepared for the worst. The plan was this; she would go out and distract the enemy, hopefully long enough for everyone else to regroup and fight back. Annabeth actually thought to give Riptide to someone else, like Clarisse, but she ultimately decided against it; best if only one person had to die. Plus, the sword would return to Annabeth's pocket in a few minutes anyway. With any luck, the nature spirits would join in, and maybe the Pegasi would too; Annabeth knew that Silena's would if she asked it to. It was a suicide mission…but at least she'd be with Percy in death. Maybe this was how Annabeth was destined to die, and it had been set in stone this whole time…

" _Not mine. I make my own,"_ Percy had said. It seemed so long ago that he did. Annabeth bit her lip; this wasn't the time to be nostalgic; plenty of time for that in the Underworld.

xxxXXXxxx

"You have no idea the wrath that will be incurred upon you, if you go through with this," Chiron warned. "Turn back now, and the gods may overlook this."

"The gods have no sway anymore!" Minos snapped. "They are all simply a bunch of immortal children!"

While Chiron and Minos were shooting the shit, with Chiron trying to buy some time, Beckendorf made his way over to Silena, after seeing her escorted out to the group. "Are you okay?" Beckendorf asked, his face scrunched with worry.

"I'm fine, they didn't hurt me," Silena said, trying to avoid the 'why' of that statement. "But…what are we gonna do? We're trapped, and without weapons. We _need_ weapons, Charlie."

"We have plenty," Beckendorf claimed. "Listen…remember that failsafe I told you about?"

Silena had a mini-panic attack. "Charlie, no! You said that would kill you!"

"For sure," he clarified. "But it's the best shot we have of everyone else getting away," he said. "I'll lead them away, and-"

"Charlie, no!" Silena repeated, getting a Terminator-grip on his arm. "I _won't_ let you!"

Beckendorf was tempted to argue, but he wouldn't get the chance to. Instead, there was a commotion in enemy lines. Minos was too distracted to notice, but Daedalus did, and turned around just in time to dodge out of the way of a knife slash directed at his face. Annabeth rolled forward in follow-up. Daedalus immediately got a surge of anger. This was the girl who claimed to outsmart him? Pathetic. He _had_ to correct that mistake.

The automaton drew his sword and engaged Annabeth in single combat just as the enemy archers nocked their arrows. "Daedalus!" Minos roared. "Retreat, now!"

"Quiet, would-be king!" Daedalus snapped back, too consumed with the desire to murder this girl, especially as he pushed her back through enemy lines. "Do _not_ attack!" he ordered Kronos' army. The group looked to Minos, their de facto leader.

The ghost looked irritated by the turn of events. He was considering using the demigods as hostages, to get the daughter of Athena to stop, but he ultimately decided against it; it would make a good example if she fought her hardest and then died, to discourage any further resistance. "No good, short-circuiting fool…I'll correct this in due time," he muttered to himself. "Don't engage!" he called out to the army, holding his palm up as if to halt them.

With that, all attention, especially Daedalus' was on Annabeth, just as she wanted. However, the line of enemies didn't break at all, meaning that Camp Half-Blood was surrounded just the same as before. From where she was at, which was being bashed away with a metal fist to the shield, Annabeth couldn't hope to break the line manually, and she couldn't call out to them, or else the plan would be exposed and they'd all be killed anyway.

Annabeth stood after Daedalus' last brutal assault and attempted to fight back, but he was just too good. His sword technique was flawless, and he executed his attacks with such accuracy that Annabeth could only hope to negate as much damage as she could, while being tossed around like a ragdoll.

At one point, Annabeth managed to mount a small offensive, striking towards his torso. She hoped he had like a power core (or whatever the equivalent would be) that would destroy him. If he did, she would guess it would be towards the center of his body, possibly at his heart. Soon, she stabbed where he didn't want her to, and she cut open a small chink in his body, revealing a glowing blue light. Annabeth tried to stab it again, but Daedalus _really_ didn't want her attacking him anymore, and swiftly ended her offensive, slashing her leg and then her face as she kneeled from the pain of it.

Once, she tried to run; gain some distance at least. She knew the terrain better than Daedalus did (she hoped he didn't memorize it while he was the swordmaster), so she might have been able to find a way to jump him successfully, but he caught up in no time at all, his feet glowing with energy; it must've been those upgraded Hermes Shoes he'd mentioned. She had no idea what else they might be capable of, since Hermes' actual shoes allowed him to fly through the air, albeit, in the hands (feet?) of a demigod, it could barely be called a leisurely glide compared to the speed of a Pegasus.

Once he caught up, he got through Annabeth's defenses and slashed up her arm pretty good, before once again hitting her away, back toward the surrounded campers.

Daedalus followed up quickly, kicking her up into the air, like fifteen meters up and even right over the group of campers, and followed her using his shoes. Unlike Hermes' Shoes on a demigod, these propelled him like a rocket, straight up to Annabeth, where he laid down a devastating downward slash. Annabeth raised her shield, which took the attack, but it also sent her careening to the ground at a million miles an hour. She landed, somewhat thankfully, on the beach. Now, that sounds good, but then, it was at like a million miles an hour.

Annabeth landed with a crash, and rolled quite a ways, into the water itself. She didn't want to stand; she just wanted to lay there and die. Blood caked her skin, pouring from a multitude of cuts and gashes that had been inflicted. Her shield arm hurt so badly that she couldn't even carry it anymore; it was probably broken. Plus, the shield itself had been ripped off from her landing anyway.

Daedalus stood about twenty meters away from her, having pushed through the wall himself to stand just outside it. "You are a fool, girl," he called out to her. "Your plan failed; now we have your precious friends _and_ that pitiful sun god! Give this up now, and you'll live."

The campers watched on in horror, unable to do anything. "Stay down, Annabeth…" Beckendorf muttered.

"Please, don't be a martyr…" Silena agreed.

Annabeth struggled to her feet, silently begging someone, anyone, to help her. What had she been thinking? Well, she was thinking she was probably gonna die. So why did she continue to fight? She knew she had no hope of winning, she _knew_ that for a fact.

The reason she kept standing was that as long as their attention was on her, as long as she kept getting up, then they wouldn't hurt the others. So long as Annabeth kept fighting, they'd all be safe.

Daedalus looked unamused by her standing. She raised her arms in a defensive position, her blade switched to backhand and pointed outwards, with the pommel right up against her cheek. Minos, behind him, grinned. This would be a perfect end to all of this for him. Perhaps he should _reward_ Daedalus instead of punish him. "Tch…as you wish," he raised his blade high, as golden energy glowed on it.

" _So, this is how I die,"_ Annabeth thought, expecting to have her life flash before her eyes. " _I suppose there are worse ways."_

" _It's been a pleasure spectating you,"_ Riptide said.

"… _I hope you don't follow me to the Underworld…"_ she thought.

"Now, you die!" Daedalus yelled, and he slashed downward. He'd charged longer this time, resulting in a more potent attack. Normally, the wave of energy would be about the thickness of the blade itself, but this time, it was like a wall of gold light approaching her.

Annabeth's strength faded as she accepted her fate. She dropped her arms to her side. She started to fall forward, but managed to catch herself. She didn't want to die on the ground.

The blast never hit her, however. Instead, a gigantic wall of water erupted in front of her, and dissipated the shot into nothingness, just as it passed through. In a split second, Annabeth knew what this meant, and collapsed as she knew she didn't have to fight anymore, only to fall into his arms as he rose out of the water.

"Hey, Brighteyes," Percy greeted, his voice soft and mature. Instantly, she knew that the old Percy was back, the one she fell for, the one she needed. "Sorry I took so long. Thanks for holding down the fort for me while I was gone," he said, lowering her to the ground and using the water to heal her most grievous injuries, leaving the rest so as to conserve his own strength for the battle ahead.

"P-Percy…" Annabeth raised her hand to his face, still not believing that he was real. She caressed his cheek and started shedding tears at the realization that he wasn't dead. "I-I…I love you…" she choked out through her tears, feeling a massive weight lift off her shoulders as she said it.

Percy smiled gratefully. "To you too," he returned, picking her up.

"W-what?" Daedalus was furious, his metallic body shaking in anger. "You're supposed to be dead!"

"Quiet!" Percy ordered, his eyes shining so intensely that it seemed the water was threatening to erupt around him. Daedalus momentarily obeyed as Percy made his way off to the side, onto the shore, and leaned Annabeth against a tree, facing toward the action.

"I-I…" Annabeth reached into her pocket and brought out Riptide. "I kept your sword…"

"Thanks. I'm definitely gonna need it," he said, taking it back from her.

" _Hey man, long time no see,"_ Riptide greeted. " _Glad you're not dead."_

" _Yeah, me too."_

Percy returned to where he first appeared, in the water, and waited.

Minos clenched his fist. "You idiot!" he roared, shaking the inventor out of his rage and making him flinch. "You assured me of the son of Poseidon's demise!"

"I-I thought-"

"You _assumed_! One cannot assume with demigods, you fool!" Daedalus clenched his fist, but didn't argue back. He knew what would happen if he did, even if that bastard had insulted the genius' intelligence. Minos made it way to the front to see Percy. "Now, _boy_ , you have two options. You can surrender and be handed off to Kronos like the rest of this pathetic trash, or you can foolishly attempt to fight against us. Though, you saw how well that worked out for that silly child of Athena," he gestured to her. "Speaking of; a few of you, go grab her, and bring her to me. I'll have some… _choice words_ for her."

A few rogue monsters approached Annabeth, but they never made it within ten meters of her, as Percy, barely moving a muscle, created massive scythes of water, slicing the monsters in two and turning them all to dust which then washed away into the Sound. This was when the enemy started looking a bit anxious.

Minos, however, was simply amused. "Surely you don't wish to resist. You _know_ you cannot defeat all of us on your own," he tried to coerce the son of Poseidon, but it wasn't working. Percy shot the army a glare in a silent warning not to touch Annabeth, before breaking into a smirk.

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not alone, then," he said.

"What are you babbling about?"

"Minos!" a yell came from behind the group. Everyone turned to see Bianca, with a sick jet black sword in her hand. Behind her trailed three rogue demigods, all unconscious. They hung a few feet off the ground, upside down, being held at their ankles by physical shadows which were controlled by Bianca herself. It was the group set to watch over the captured campers who had been guarding the Labyrinth entrance. "I come for you!"

"Ah, Bianca dearest," Minos still wasn't worried. "I was afraid you'd gone too far, but it seems you can still be of use to me," he held out his hand. "Come here and deal with the malcontent."

"I won't!" she said back, her voice surprisingly strong for how terrified Percy knew she was. He was half expecting her to run away, but she stood her ground and looked completely badass while doing it. "But _you_ are you going to listen to me. You _and_ your precious ghost army!"

Minos burst into laughter, with the skeletons and some of the demigods joining in. What was one girl going to do? As Minos spoke next, his mood changed drastically from joking to ruthless. "You? Haha! Just for that, I'm almost considering not ripping your goddamn spine out for talking _back_ to me!"

"Maybe you didn't hear me," Bianca spoke slowly, making sure Minos heard each word. She put all of her willpower into the words. " _I_ am the daughter of Hades, the dead god! I own you, all of you! And I said," she raised her blade, using it to channel her powers to send a wave of shadow pulsing out. "Kneel!" her order echoed in the otherwise silent valley.

Minos no longer had control, and, despite his resistance, he was soon down on one knee, along with over half of the enemy army. A few of the campers were getting antsy at the prospect of being able to fight, but Chiron held them back.

"W-what? Impossible!" Daedalus exclaimed, seeing his master kneeling.

Bianca held a hand out in challenge. "Come on, coward," she dared. "And I'll teach you all _about_ the afterlife."

"Foolish girl…" Minos struggled out. "You can't hold us for long. I doubt even a few minutes…"

"Maybe, but it's more than enough time to give you a proper entry into the Underworld," she returned, getting a wicked grin on her face; she was showing her psychotic side again. Obviously, the "proper entry" would be absolutely sadistic.

"You…you're a monster!" Minos yelled. Percy would've thought he was being ironic if not for the fact that, for the first time in his sniveling, pathetic life, Minos was one hundred percent terrified.

"No," Bianca corrected. "I am the Ghost King!" she announced as she had her subjects kneeling before her might.

Daedalus stepped back, unsure. Then he realized: they still had almost a hundred other monsters and demigods to regain control of the situation. Daedalus had to take charge, as Minos was down, at least for now. He decided to cut his losses, so as not to lose everything. "Kill them! Kill them all!"

"I don't think so!" Bianca raised her blade again, and then pointed it forward. "Attack Kronos' army!" she ordered all of the dead soldiers.

Suddenly, pandemonium ensued, as skeletons attacked their allies, and Minos engaged Daedalus himself, who was doing everything he could not to drop his fudge, and trying to not to harm the would-be King.

"Campers!" Chiron called over the madness. "Regroup! Stay together!"

"We need weapons!" Clarisse joined in. "Make for the armory!"

Percy dashed from his spot, and dragged water from the Sound with him. He made his way into the path where the campers would go to the armory, and cleared a path in the chaos, using the water to push the enemies back to form an aisle. It was very frantic, to say the least, as campers young and old gathered weapons, passed them around, and geared up with armor. Within two minutes, everyone was ready for battle, which is, like, incredible. Normally, for Capture-The-Flag, it took just thirty campers almost ten minutes to gear up, let alone the whole camp.

Luckily enough, or perhaps not, right as the campers got ready, Bianca lost control of the dead army. Unfortunately, this was right before Minos got a killer blow onto Daedalus, though Percy was thankful for that. He wanted a fair fight.

After the chaos had ended, it was Camp Half-Blood versus Minos' army, proper. "Campers!" Percy called, standing out in front, with Riptide held high. "Attack!"

The campers let out a battle cry so loud that it shook the water on the Sound from far away. The two armies clashed in a brutal array of clanging weapons and scraping bones. Percy wasn't focused on that, though, as he went straight for Daedalus.

"You're mine!" Percy yelled, shooting water in a jet at the inventor, and blasting him far away from the action and back towards the Long Island Sound, before Percy followed to have his duel.

Minos, by the same token, went for Bianca to get revenge. The two met, clashing weapons. "You were broken!" Minos yelled at her, losing his temper. "I left you for dead! How?! How are you still alive?! How can you still function?! You should have drowned in madness forever!" he demanded as he forced her back.

"If you want to know," Bianca grinned, her eyes growing wide underneath the blindfold. "I'm _right_ on the edge!" she claimed, extending her blade. The people around her gave her a wide berth, sensing that the blade was bad news, and she swung the whip, with it lashing Minos right in the side and causing his form to falter from its unique properties. Dead energy poured from the wound, a kind of black powder or dust spraying out like blood would.

Bianca didn't let up, approaching Minos while quietly giggling to herself. She was going to enjoy this.

Percy and Daedalus stared each other down for a few seconds. No words were exchanged; there was no need. This was a fight to the death.

" _I'm gonna need you on your toes. He's got a just a few years of practice on me. It's gonna take everything I've got to put this guy down,_ " Percy thought. " _Return to me as fast as you possibly can when I get disarmed or if I throw you."_

" _First, why would you throw me? Second, I'll aim for a few seconds, but I can probably only do that once or twice,"_ Riptide claimed.

" _That'll have to do. I'll manage otherwise,"_ Percy returned as he readied himself. He let Daedalus walk on the water, like Percy did himself. As mentioned above, Percy wanted a fair fight. He didn't want to win because of an inherent disadvantage of Daedalus save for the water giving Percy strength. At least there, it was his own strength being enhanced. This was to be a battle which tested their skills and their power, not how well they could move in water. It was the same reason he declined getting the boost from the River Styx; he needed to prove to himself that he could do this, that he could overcome this challenge.

They both ran at each other, with Percy creating another blade of water as he ran. As he approached, Percy leapt up into the air in a flip, and swung downward to attack. Daedalus blocked the attack, and forced Percy away. As he fell from the air, Percy shot water in bursts, like bullets, at the inventor, who managed to parry the first few, but was caught by the next. Percy landed, and immediately threw his blade at his opponent at blazing speed, as it was infused with his own water so he could guide it to its destination. Percy ran toward the inventor at the same time.

Daedalus stood up in time to parry the throw, which blasted Riptide far away in the recoil, as Percy slashed down with his own water blade, before having to parry a flurry of attacks from Daedalus. The automaton then let loose a finishing stab, but Percy, enhanced by the water, leapt into the air and kicked off into another jump from the flat of Daedalus' sword, slashing down onto the inventor's head as he flipped over him, even if it was blocked.

After a few more frenzied exchanges, Daedalus kicked Percy away, giving him enough time to charge up his sword again. Percy, recovering just in time to see him slash through the air, felt adrenaline and power rush through his limbs. He drew Riptide, who had returned to him, enhanced it with his water, and braced himself.

" _I_ will _stop it this time!"_ he yelled in his head. As the energy wave came, Percy slashed downward, and felt a massive resistance, like he was cutting through diamond at an irregular angle, but he finished his sword stroke, and the blast split in front of him, careening past him and doing no damage. " _Yes!"_ Percy congratulated himself perhaps a bit too early, as Daedalus had charged him once again.

Percy didn't have time to block, so he leapt out of the way, raised a wall of water, and kicked off of it like he would a wall or rock face (a move he picked up from Thalia, from their scuffle last summer), and retaliated with a big cut. Daedalus dodged, having used the time it took Percy to dodge to charge up his blade even more, and let loose a few close-range shots, two to be exact. Percy rolled under the first, and then shot himself up into the air using the water over the second. Percy shot himself down with a jet of water, right over Daedalus, and attempting to run him through from the top down. Daedalus rolled out of the way yet again, but this time was a bit sloppier.

Percy didn't let up, taking advantage of the time he had, and shot himself toward Daedalus without even touching the ground (or water), all thanks to his water-infused limbs. Percy launched a flying kick at him, but was parried and sent further than he wanted to, where Daedalus could take advantage himself. The inventor launched an assault, but Percy refused to give him any ground, pushing the inventor back despite his superior skill. Percy tried to push through his defenses, but the bastard ran away, by flying up into the air.

The son of Poseidon shot water up at him, but he moved like a damn fly, avoiding each shot, all while he charged up his blade for multiple attacks.

Once he'd charged enough, Daedalus let loose an array of energy attacks onto Percy, who was forced to avoid them. Each blast, as it collided with the water, sent up a cloud of steam. Soon, Percy was cut off by a blast, and then another came down onto him.

The main battle, meanwhile, was going well in the campers' favor. Even outnumbered two to one, the campers were holding their own, with a few of the older ones standing watch over Annabeth, as she was left defenseless, watching Percy's battle. She was in awe of how fast they were moving; she wasn't even aware that Percy could do half of the things she was seeing him do. What the hell happened to him?

Bianca, as well, was occupied with handing Minos his generous golden ass. The would-be King was helpless against her might, even as a former son of Zeus. She had blasted him far away from the battle, into the woods, to give him a slow, painful death. She kept laying into him with her whip, like some kind of really fucking kinky dominatrix, only he wasn't enjoying it. No, far from it. His cries of agony were heard even from the battlefield.

"Stop! Stop, please! I'll do anything!" he even started resorting to begging, but Bianca wasn't having any of it.

"Do you feel it?" she asked sweetly. "This is what karma feels like," she claimed.

"Y-you-you can't be real! No one can…no one is…so cruel!" Minos cried, completely mortified.

Bianca frowned. "I _am_ real, Minos. Imagine, for a minute, feeling how you do now, all of the time! Imagine feeling that sinking feeling in your head like you're losing yourself, when you can't even remember what you're doing, because of what someone else was doing to you. It's _wrong_! Now it's _your_ turn to feel afraid. It's _your_ turn to go mad. It's _your_ turn to _suffer_!" she yelled, summoning the shadows to her side, using tendrils of darkness to lash against each of Minos limbs. She could just easily remove the crown to turn him incorporeal again, but then he wouldn't get to physically suffer.

"Please! I beg of you! Have mercy!"

Bianca grinned, as she removed her blindfold, revealing her bone white eyes staring wide and wild. "Well, you know what they say," she said, her voice once again turning sweet and innocent, even as the shadows enveloped her face, leaving only that horrifying image, of mad white eyes staring at him through the darkness with her hair standing straight up and looking like black flame, in Minos' head,. "An eye for an eye."

She slashed her blade through Minos' arm, severing it at the shoulder, and then doing his other arm, and then both of his legs. Then, Bianca used the shadows to rip his torso from the air, and into a tree, where the shadows stuck him in place. Then, in a final act of violence, Bianca stabbed where Minos' heart should have been. She felt her Stygian iron blade start to suck the soul from his temporary body, as black smoke shot from every one of his wounds and orifices, until nothing was left.

Only then did Bianca remove the crown from Minos' head, and let the now soulless ghostly form drift away to wander endlessly in search of itself.

She took a deep breath, bringing herself back from the brink of madness, if only slightly. She put her blindfold on, and the shadows retracted from her face. She knew she would never truly be free of that feeling ever again, but maybe…maybe if she could channel it…

"Questions for later," she said to herself, not even thinking twice about the horrible, sadistic, demented act she just committed. She was about to jog back down to the battle, but then she saw (not really saw, but sort of?) a bright white light being shot out from the infirmary.

Bianca jogged over to the infirmary, to see what looked like bodies. Bianca covered her nose. Not that she could tell by seeing, but more by just…knowing; these bodies had been burned to a crisp, and charred black from heat. Bianca entered the infirmary to see (you know what I mean) Winona and Michael and (technically) Apollo, but he was still a vegetable, not that Bianca knew their names yet. Everything in the infirmary seemed fine, no burns or anything. Michael was crouched behind a bed, unconscious, but alive. Winona stood there, horrified, looking down at her hands. Several cuts lined the girl's face, but it wasn't regular blood seeping from them.

It was golden ichor.

Back at the action, the main battle was wrapping up nicely. With Minos gone, the skeletal warriors collapsed and burst into dust, leaving most of the rogue demigods and about fifteen monsters. The rogue demigods quickly surrendered, and the monsters were destroyed quickly.

Percy, meanwhile, was getting shot at. A burst of steam erupted from the water when he'd gotten hit, but right beforehand, he willed a sphere of water to form around him, shielding him from both the attack, and from sight as the steam shielded him from that too.

Percy took advantage of this, and sent a long stream of water out, faster than Daedalus could react, which wrapped around the automaton's leg. Percy willed the water down, and it yanked the inventor down to the ground (water, but whatever). The impact seemed to break his shoes or otherwise he didn't use them again.

Daedalus growled as he stood, and pulled out another object. Percy recognized the shape; it was Zeus' Master Bolt, or at least a replica, as Daedalus had mentioned he'd made. It seemed, though, that the inventor couldn't replicate Zeus' control over destructive lightning, but instead could only harness the wind, and shot out a gust of wind so powerful that it created a mini tornado, which careened toward the son of Poseidon.

Percy built up power within himself, as it was going to take everything he had to get through this. He knew he had to end this quickly, or else risk running out of strength

He dashed forward, and leapt into the air, towards the tornado, dragging water behind him with the arc of his blade, as he slashed through, using the water to aid his attack. The result was that the wind storm dispersed, with Percy landing and breaking into a dash. This was going to be the final push, if Percy had any chance of winning this.

Percy dodged a few more energy waves, before thrusting toward Daedalus, who dodged the attack. The man did a jump slash onto Percy, who back-stepped, and then had to avoid the last of the inventor's built-up energy attacks, before launching himself at the automaton with a stab into the ground, or at least that was the result, as Daedalus dodged it, before swinging and propelling himself using the water and forcing Daedalus back with a kick.

Percy tried another thrust, but the automaton shot to the side, trying to gain some distance to build up more attacks. Percy wouldn't let him, though, as he leapt and slashed down onto the son of Athena. Unfortunately, he blocked the attack, and forced Percy back, parrying in such a way that it blasted Riptide out of his hand. The son of Poseidon's strength momentarily failed him, and he was sent onto his back.

Daedalus, perhaps hastily, saw a chance at victory, and took it. He used the last of his shoes' power to launch himself into the air. Percy saw the attack coming, but didn't have time to dodge, and he couldn't see the attack directly, as Daedalus, in a genius move that was maybe aided by luck, leaped so that he was right in front of the sun.

Daedalus stabbed downward onto Percy, releasing a huge spray of water, shrouding the result from the crowd that was watching.

At first, Daedalus felt accomplished, but then realized that he couldn't move.

Percy, in a moment of pure instinct, managed to create a small blade of water, point it upwards, and move his head just slightly to dodge the stab. The blade only managed to cut into the boy's ear, just slightly, another millimeter and it would've caused actual damage, and another millisecond, and Percy would've been history. The water blade he'd created actually stabbed right where Annabeth had cut Daedaluspreviously, right where his "power core" was, or whatever it was called. While it didn't outright kill him, it _did_ immobilize the automaton.

"T-that's…impossible…" Daedalus claimed. "What are you?"

Percy's sea green eyes were bright with adrenaline. "I am the force that splits the sea," he claimed, before rolling backwards to gain a bit of distance, and building up power within himself, all of the rest of his power. He pulled as much of the Long Island Sound that he could, splitting it behind him like fucking Moses and forming it into two massive tendrils, before rearing back a fist, and then laying into Daedalus, right in the face. The tendrils of water shot forward and blasted against Daedalus, both pushing him back and pushing past him, in a mix of shooting him away and disintegrating him using the corrosive power of the water.

He landed within the crowd of campers, and all that was left of him was his metal skeleton which was used as the frame. The glowing blue core had dissolved into nothing.

The battle had been won.

But the war had just begun. The death of Daedalus marked Percy's first blood in the war, his first kill.

The others looked at him with a mixture of pride and awe. Even Chiron was left speechless. In his head, he knew he should be telling the injured to go to the infirmary, but he was too busy processing what had happened and what was to transpire.

"This is just the beginning," Percy called out to them, rising up on the water, creating a pillar for himself so everyone could see him. "There will be _many_ more battles to come."

The others looked dejected by this. Several of them looked down, ashamed, or scared.

"Hey, hey!" Percy called out to them. "Don't look so depressed. You saw what we did today!"

"Yeah, we got out asses handed to us…" someone muttered.

"Like hell we did!" Percy argued. "So they got the drop on us, so what? They won't have that chance again, because we know exactly where and when they're coming next!"

Confused looks were exchanged. "We do?"

"Next year, mid-August. That's when Kronos will march on Olympus, and we'll be tasked to defend it."

"How do you know that?" an Ares kid called.

"Because that's when I turn eighteen, and the Great Prophecy will fulfill itself. Kronos _knows_ that that's his best chance to take Olympus, so that's when he'll strike. And when he does, we'll be ready. Today, we took out double our own numbers, and how many did we lose?"

"None," someone answered, probably an Apollo kid.

"Damn straight!" Percy called, raising his fist high. The crowd was beginning to feel his fervor themselves, with a few voicing their agreement. "This year, we train like our lives depend on it! We work out strategies, we focus, and we work! And then, come next August, we stand our ground. Today, each camper felt like two of the enemy. Well I say we take that, and make each camper worth ten! We make a hundred campers feel like a goddam thousand!" he yelled, causing a roar of agreement to come from the crowd. "They think they can just walk all over us! That we're nothing! We'll prove them wrong!" more agreement. Percy dropped his arm to his side, dropping his bravado for a moment with it. "I know I can't force any of you to do this, and if I have to fight alone against the Titan army when the time comes, then so be it. But no matter what, I _won't_ lose! I won't give in! I will fight, and fight, and goddam fight!" he roared. With one final roar of valor, Percy solidified his choice for the Great Prophecy. "Olympus _will_ prevail!"

xxxXXXxxx

A while later, everyone had been moved to the infirmary. The guard squad was retrieved and patched up, with Sherman in particular suffering a broken leg. Winona and the rest of the Apollo cabin were rushing around, trying to treat people quickly so as to treat the rest of the campers. Most of them had to stay outside, as the infirmary just wasn't big enough to hold all of them.

Annabeth was one of those people. Percy was one of the ladttreated, as he had only minor injuries, and Annabeth was _the_ first, as her injuries were the most severe. She had sustained a broken arm from her fall, among her numerous cuts, gashes, and scrapes. All in all, she'd had a rough time. But strangely, she felt good, or at least content.

Percy sat on her bed next her, holding her hand as he watched the madness of the patching of the camp. His eyes were cloudy, like he was thinking. This was the first time they'd been able to really talk since…well, since Mount Saint Helens, so Annabeth figured now was a good a time as any to bring up the elephant in the room. "Hey," she said, shaking his hand a bit.

"Hm?" he turned toward her. "What's up?"

"What's up? You just came back from the dead," she returned. "You wanna tell me what happened?"

Percy blinked. "…I said I would come back," was his excuse.

"Percy."

"Okay, I…had a 'talk' with Poseidon."

"Oh," Annabeth hadn't expected that answer. "And…how'd that go?"

"It went…well? I kinda…denounced him, but, uh…"

Annabeth grimaced. "And he's still letting you control his domain?"

"Well, I think he wanted me to denounce him? I don't know…"

"What do you mean?" Annabeth wondered, not seeing any reason why the god would want that.

"Well…" Percy considered how he was going to phrase this. "I think Poseidon didn't want me to ride his coattails, so to speak. He wanted me to…become my own person, instead of just being 'the son of Poseidon'," Percy explained. "…If that's the case, though, I can't say I agree with his methods of telling me that," Percy frowned, frustrated. "Things would've been so much easier if he'd have just told me."

Annabeth tried to at least partially justify the sea god's actions, assuming that they were intentional. "Well, gods generally aren't allowed to talk to mortals at all, so there wasn't a lot of communication to begin with. And…they're immortal. They don't exactly have a lot of reason to grow as people; maybe he just didn't have the 'people' skills to tell you."

"…That's a good enough excuse for me," Percy announced, smiling. "It makes me feel better, anyway."

Annabeth smiled too. She was glad that he'd finally moved out of his rut that he'd been driven into. The two were quiet for a moment, before they both noticed that they had a watcher; across from Annabeth was Sherman. Percy got a mischievous grin on his face as he stood. Annabeth rolled her eyes; she could tell he was about to do something stupid. "Hey, buddy!" he greeted the son of Ares.

"Go away, Percy..." he groaned.

"Oh? Aren't I the 'choker'? Well, who _choked_ this time?" Percy got in the boy's face and rubbed it in. "And what about Annabeth? Is she still the damsel in distress? Or was she a total badass while you were tied up and unconscious, huh?"

"Ugh..." Sherman tried to ignore him, but it was hard.

"Percy," Annabeth called him back over. "Leave him alone. We'll get back at him...in due time," she said ominously. Percy grinned at his girlfriend, relieved that she was feeling better in more ways than one. The two stared at each other quietly for a escond, before leaning closer to each other.

"Get back here!" Winona yelled, making both of them jump from the noise.

"No!" Bianca yelled back petulantly, climbing over injured campers in their beds and pushing through small groups, running from the younger girl. "There's no way you're taking this blindfold off!" She climbed over Sherman's bed, accidentally pushing on his broken leg to help her over. The boy whimpered when she did, holding it, but trying not to make more noise. Winona soon climbed over as well in chase; also 'accidentally' pushing on his leg, making him whimper some more and making him glare at the blond girl. She looked back and did the thing where she pointed at her eyes and then at his, like "I'm watching you."

"I said get back here!" Winona called again. "I have to do the retinal check!"

"You don't _have_ to do anything! I didn't get hurt!"

"Stop being such a baby!"

"No! Go away!" Bianca yelled back as she dashed up to Annabeth's bed. "Percy! Percy, you've gotta help me. There's this crazy chick chasing me and-" Winona body-slammed Bianca to the ground. "Ah! She's back!"

"Got you!" the daughter of Apollo reached down, having pinned Bianca's arms to her side with her legs. "Now let's see those gates to the soul," she said. Percy grabbed the girl by the back of the shirt, and pulled her off. "Hey! Let go of me, Percy!"

"Trust me; you don't want to see her soul. It's pretty fucked up," he said as Bianca stood, and hid behind Annabeth's bed.

"But I still-"

"So Win, you wanna tell me what that light was that came from the infirmary during the battle?" Annabeth interrupted.

"…You saw that?"

"We all saw that," Annabeth claimed.

"I didn't," Percy said.

"Shut up, Percy."

"Yes, ma'am."

Winona looked at the ground. She didn't want to, but she recalled the tale. "Well…I was tending to father, while you all were at the burning. All of a sudden, a big group of people came in, people that weren't from camp. It was just me and Mikey in there, and only he had a weapon. He tried to fight back, but…he was…" she gestured to him, still unconscious.

"Well, at least he didn't die," Percy mentioned. "If he did, I couldn't make any more short jokes…"

"Sh," Annabeth ordered.

"Then, when they said to hand over father, he started to glow, and then…I started to glow…and then…" Winona held her head, like it hurt. "I-I don't…I don't remember what happened after that. I-I think I…fought back, but then there was this big…flash, and…"

"And you charred those bastards! Good job!" Bianca exclaimed cheerily. Winona shot her a dirty look.

"I didn't _want_ to hurt anybody, I just…"

"You lost control," Percy said. "But children of Apollo shouldn't have that kind of power, unless you're like a freak child. Has this happened before?"

Winona shook her head. "Don't forget about the-" Bianca started to blurt something out, but Percy slapped his hand over her mouth.

"Continue."

"Well, when everything stopped, I was cut up, and…" Winona's body started to shake. "And it wasn't my blood coming from my wounds. It was…golden ichor, like a god's."

Percy and Annabeth exchanged a look. Annabeth had an idea of what had happened, but she couldn't be sure. Winona could've become a god, like Zoë had when Artemis died, but Apollo wasn't dead; he was in a vegetative state, but he wasn't dead.

"We'll take you to Olympus to get this sorted out," she told the younger girl. Winona nodded uncertainly.

"You sure? They might not-" Percy started to object.

"They'll understand. We'll bring Apollo; we could say it was just to return him to his throne, and we could ask off-handedly," the daughter of Athena claimed. Percy nodded. It sounded like a plan.

" _After_ you heal up," Percy clarified. Annabeth smiled and nodded.

"After I heal up," she agreed.

"Aw, how sweet. He's all concerned," Bianca gave Percy a noogie.

"Yeah whatever," Percy wrestled free. "So are you two cool now, or what?" he questioned. Annabeth and Bianca glanced at each other.

"You're not gonna try and steal him from me again, are you?" Annabeth inquired.

"I've got no plans for it," Bianca answered, putting a finger on her chin as she thought about it. "He's more like a bro, you know?"

" _I don't like her, bro. Get rid of her,"_ Riptide said, showing its jealousy again.

Annabeth raised her good hand in relent. "Then I see no problem with you."

"Awesome," Percy said. "I guess now, we…"

"We prepare," Annabeth finished. "Like you said."

"Percy," Bianca started. "When do you wanna…?" bathe in the River Styx?

"Oh, right…" Percy thought about it. "…I'm going to go when I need to," he announced.

Bianca grimaced. "That sounds like a very dangerous idea that could very easily backfire," she mentioned.

"What are you talking about, go where?" Annabeth questioned.

"Nothing you need to worry about," Percy assured. "It's just…something I need to do. But I won't leave your side again."

Annabeth was obviously apprehensive, but she nodded.

Suddenly, a loud crash was heard, followed by what sounded like something being dragged across the ground. Percy shot to his feet, at first expecting another group of attackers, but instead, he saw a mass of silver within the forest, still a ways away.

A few minutes later, the Hunters of Artemis were at the infirmary, gratefully accepting the aid of the Apollo campers, even if some of the guys were hitting on them. Zoë and Thalia made their way to Percy and Annabeth. "We meet again," she said, shaking both of their hands. "It is good to see you two still alive."

"But injured," Thalia mentioned. "Are you okay, Annabeth?"

"I'm fine. Thanks for coming," she said.

"Yes, thanks," Percy said sarcastically. "We were fighting for our lives. Where were you?" he demanded, even as he was just messing around. Zoë cleared her throat, and gestured to their catch; Kampê in chains. "Oh…"

"It was a tough battle, but she was stupid enough to be led away from the main force, into your woods, where we had the advantage," Zoë explained.

"And…why is she still alive?"

"I figured Lord Zeus would like to deal with her personally, seeing as it was his bolt that defeated her the last time."

"Then could you wait until I'm healed?" Annabeth requested. "We need to go up to Olympus as well."

"So long as you have a place to keep her," Zoë said.

"There's a big barn out in the woods," Percy said, referring to Daedalus' old home, back when he went by Quintus. "Should be big enough."

"Then it will be so," Zoë agreed. "Percy, do you still have that charm I gave you?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah," he showed it, still strapped to his belt. "Why?"

Zoë got deadly serious for a moment. "Because I fear you may need it."

"For…what? Does it do something?" he wondered.

The goddess shook her head. "I do not know, but I did have this dream, where-"

"Hi, Zoë!" Bianca popped up excitedly. "Long time no see!"

The Hunter immediately got a sour look on her face. "…Bianca…" she said the girl's name with distain.

"What?" Percy wondered. "What'd she do this time?"

"Well," Zoë put a hand on her hip. "She disgraced the Hunters and gave up her maidenhood because she 'felt bad', so that is one thing," she said. "And after she showed such promise, as well…tis a shame.

"I missed you too!" Bianca ignored the goddess' lamentation.

Zoë, likewise, ignored the daughter of Hades entirely. "So, Annabeth, why is it that you need to go to Olympus?" The daughter of Athena recalled Winona's story. "Hm…that _is_ odd. Though if Apollo himself is not dead, then I would assume it is temporary."

"So you can fix it?"

"No," Zoë said. "And 'temporary' does not tell us when it will cease. We will discuss this at your visit, and have Athena herself weigh judgement."

Annabeth nodded. "Okay…I'll tell Win later," she said.

"And it _is_ troubling that Kronos would target the gods so boldly this early," Zoë continued her thoughts. "This would also be a good time to warn the other Olympians."

Percy shrugged. "Eh, Apollo probably was just an idiot."

"Probably," Zoë agreed. "But this is not the time for unnecessary risks," she claimed. "Luckily, my Hunters are with me, and Hades and Poseidon are in their respective domains. We are the only ones regularly away from Olympus, so the likelihood of this happening again is slim."

"Oh, that reminds me," Bianca spoke up again. "Percy, what do you want me to do?" she wondered.

" _How are those two things related?"_ Riptide wondered. Percy was just as confused, but for a different reason.

"Why are you asking me?"

"And aren't you just staying at camp to train like the rest of us?" Annabeth added.

" _Please_ no…" Zoë moaned.

"I mean…I'd rather not," Bianca claimed. "So…is there anything for me to do outside of camp?"

Percy thought about it. It didn't take long for him to think of something. "Surveillance," he claimed. Bianca made a look that asked him to explain. "Keep tabs on the enemy, using your shadow-travel thingy. Keep tabs on Tartarus and warn us if anymore Titans try and crawl out of there," he explained. Bianca nodded. "Because if one does, I want to know, and I want to get rid of them before they can make it to Kronos. I'm _going_ to be ready for whatever lies ahead."

Percy's words rang true for those listening. They all knew it could only mean one thing.

The war had begun.

 **Author's Note:**

 **So, this chapter is officially the longest single chapter I've ever written ever, so...that's a thing. It's longer than chapter 35 by over a thousand words, so it's a pretty substantial 1st place. So yeah, that's a thing.**

 **Anyway, here it is; two days late, but it's here; the BotL finale! Now, I know I left some loose ends. It's almost like I (gasp) was setting up things for later, so don't worry about those.**

 **For now, just enjoy the fact that the angsting period is over! Huzzah! Yay! Now we get nonstop bloodshed and carnage for almost the rest of this story! Yay!**

 **All jokes aside, The Last Olympian is going to be huge, both in length (on my end anyway) and in scale, and I have a job now, so I won't be able to write it as quickly. Unfortunately, this means that there will be another semi-prolonged hiatus. Hopefully it won't take as long as I think, but good god, each of these last couple of chapters took like a two or more days to write. For that reason, I won't upload until I have over three-quarters of it written, to avoid what happened with this and leave you guys hanging. That's a promise; it won't happen again.**

 **So with that, let's get into the usual finale crap.**

 **First and foremost, we have the opening song. Strangely, I didn't listen to this one all that much while writing it, but I think it fits this section almost perfectly. I'm imagining _Golden Time Lover_ by Sukima Switch, english version by Y Chang (oh hey, here he is again [this is the last Y Chang cover I'll mention for op/ed songs, promise]). Let's get into the why.**

 **Now, the song itself might seem a bit too modern to match something about Greek gods, but it's the words themselves that I'm choosing to focus on, and we're going through all of them, so be prepared for a long ride. Most of them could be applied to Percy, with some applying to Annabeth as well, as they go through their issues in this season.**

 **The first verse is all Percy, in the rut he's been in since the last season. "Failure concentrating, body/motor responses hesitating" is him still struggling to use his powers effectively and him not being able to fight like he wants to because of his fear. "Soul/ego shaking, blur between daydreams and awakening" is him struggling with that fear, trying to move past it, but the memories he keeps reliving (in his nightmares) won't let him. "Loss of control and perpetual sense that luck and light are fading" is his slowly losing hope as he isn't improving at all between the winter of the incident and the summer when this takes place. "No more ruminating, shake the strife off your life or keep on waiting" is Percy giving up (as he chooses the latter option).**

 **Second verse is still mostly about Percy, with the last two lines being Annabeth to me. "That's my situation, can't escape 'cause to run is degredation" is him accepting hi situation and still refusing to give into complete despair (possibly in the form of suicide), probably because of Annabeth. "No expectations, still I fight to bite temptation" is him wishing for Annabeth to stop expecting things from him, and his continued struggle against his decision to stay with the Olympians, instead of joining Luke as he wanted. The last two lines are Annabeth, as I said. "Find the prize is my fixation, I'm, still holding onto my pride" is her accepting the quest, telling herself that she still has her pride to fight back against her own fear.**

 **Pre-chorus time. "Is this the shine of a wine-toasted victory, or is it just a sad bitter sigh of defeat" refers to the banquet, as the two look back on it, at the end of Titan's Curse, after Percy and Annabeth's pitiful defeat where, ironically, the Olympians dealt a major blow to the Titans by re-imprisoning Atlas. "I'll take it either way, if fate is just a play, I'm tying the strings up starting today" is Percy after he confronts Poseidon, choosing to take destiny into his own hands wholeheartedly.**

 **The chorus has started. "Sound the chime, golden time, steal perfection in its prime" could refer to Percy's ideal life, with only him in control of his fate, so it's his "perfection". "Take your place, poker face, ready for the race" is Annabeth at the start of her quest, applying a poker face of determination, when she's still crippled by fear, and the race is to get to Daedalus workshop before Kronos invades camp. "I will choose to refuse the illusion, and shatter the nightmare" is Percy denouncing the gods' illusions of grandeur, while choosing to also fight with them to defeat the Titans (the nightmare), or it could be him facing his own nightmare and rising above his insecurities. "Faking tame, pressure game" is Percy faking being obedient to the Olympians when really he wants out of their games, and the "pressure game" is the pressure applied to Percy and Annabeth on their quest, along with their own issues. "Win or lose it's all the same" is Annabeth before the final battle, thinking Percy is dead and going on a suicide mission to save camp; it wouldn't have mattered if she lost, in her mind. "Pay the fine, border line, hapless to divine" is Percy having to "pay" something (winning the Titan War) to gain his freedom from the Olympians. "If there's any how many and when will these games find an ender? What's the last thing I want to surrender?" is Percy debating if there's anything he could give up fighting for, and ultimately having to choose between the people he's met along the way, or the Olypians, to which he owes his allegiance to.**

 **And there it is. Now you can see why I don't go through each line normally, but they _all_ had meaning this time, so...whatever.**

 **Now, onto prophecy explanation:**

 _ **Go down to halls of stone and gears**_

 **Annabeth must go down to the Labyrinth and navigate it.**

 _ **To face the worst of your own fears**_

 **Could refer to Annabeth having to lose Percy or her having to rise above her general fear of being capture or tortured.**

 _ **The crown of death shall crimson** **soak**_

 **Minos and Bianca needed blood of the deceased to power the crown, which ultimately gave Minos a physical form and gave him total mastery over the dead (before Bianca wrecked his shit and made him her bitch).**

 _ **The chain, the mind, and promise**_ **_broke_**

 **Prometheus' chains were broken, Bianca's mind shattered and she went insane (before coming back just to the brink), and Minos' promise to her, which contorted from him promising to help bring her brother back to promising to help make Percy fall for her, was broken as well.**

 _ **Silver eyes meet at the sun's return**_

 **When Annabeth frees Apollo, she locks eyes with Daedalus. It could refer to the actual meeting of their gazes, or it could be something else, as in that moment, Annabeth realized that she'd be the first person Daedalus targeted if he got a hold of her, and Daedalus realized that he'd been wrong about Annabeth and that she still had fight left in her after losing Percy and Grover and Rachel.**

 _ **A dead man walking, the end will** **earn**_

 **I'm surprised people didn't guess Luke for this one, but it was Percy, as he was assumed dead, and the "end" was him triumphing over Daedalus, which earned him the chance to win his freedom in the Titan War. It also earned him back his reputation as a badass at Camp Half-Blood.**

 _ **Victor or fallen by needle's thread**_

 **Refers to when Daedalus almost killed Percy, and narrowly missed. It wasn't _actually_ by a needle's thread, but you get the idea; it was a close shave, and I was really just referring to the phrase "threading the needle", referring to something with a narrow window of success.**

 _ **Spider and owl, war's first blood shed**_

 **I hinted at this being when Annabeth struck Percy before their second dive into the Labyrinth, but in actuality it was Percy facing off against Daedalus, another "owl" (son of Athena) that was Percy's first blood in the Titan War.**

 **So, fun facts now:**

 **So, some of Bianca's lines were from a really fucking badass song called "The Judicator" It's awesome. I'd consider it her secondary theme song, but it's not "mad" enough, so maybe a cross between that and Danse Macabre, the modern song (not the classical one).**

 **I originally didn't have a plan for Minos' death, but you guys seemed to really fucking hate his guts, so I ultimately obliged your wishes, and hopefully the death was gruesome enough for you. I made sure to give the kill to Bianca, in a sweet irony.**

 **Also, I modeled my description of Percy and Daedalus' fight very heavily after the one-minute melee of Sora v. Link, so if you want to watch the fight, watch that; it's the closest thing you'll get. It's pretty literal, but I tried to switch it up so as not to be unoriginal.**

 **Um...other than that...oh! That scene where Bianca and Winona are stepping on Sherman's broken leg is a Harry Potter reference, of all things. I don't really like the movies or the books, but by far my favorite is Prisoner of Azkaban, and there's a scene where Dumbledore pats Ron's broken leg twice and he makes a really funny noise each time, and...I thought it was funny, so I referenced it.**

 **Also, the song I imagined playing while Percy and Daedalus fight is "Emiya" from the Fate series; specifically, the guitar version. It's a decent song, and good for keeping up energy. Expect me to name songs I imagine playing, because there will be many in the near future, and they'll mostly be orchestral songs...just warning you.**

 **Anyway, that's all I've got for you guys; thank you all so very much for reading and being patient with my in my illness and job situation. I will see you all again once I get the majority of Last Olympian written. Don't forget to review, and let me know what you guys think!**


	49. This One's Up To You

Having the Hunters around turned about to be the just about best decision Annabeth made that summer. Having an Olympian presence within camp really helped Chiron stay level-headed and organized, especially when Zoë herself was so calm and collected most of the time. She regularly sent out her Hunters on gathering detail from either the camp forest or outside camp walls, to return a few days or sometimes a few weeks later. Thalia specifically was chosen to lead an expedition to Mount Orthys, to watch them for a time, and then to return.

Yes, even as Percy told Bianca to do that, Zoë didn't trust her, so she sent out her own party.

The camp itself went into pretty much nonstop high-gear, as Percy advised that they do. Much more emphasis was placed on combat training than ever before, with four or five regular sword training classes, led by Michael Yew (as he was good enough to be a teacher but not too good to where he lost touch of the basics, like Percy), occurred every day, with mostly first or second-year campers attending.

With that said, each cabin was about as divided as ever, even in their shared goal of preparation. Each cabin had specific responsibilities for the preparation and the war, which was where the separation came into play. The Demeter cabin focused on growing a backstock of rations and making regular trips to get more ambrosia, with permission from Artemis to do so, so that camp could train at one-hundred percent efficiency at all times. The Ares cabin was to be the frontrunner of the demigod force, and were most often seen at the arena, practicing formations and combat techniques, with Clarisse leading the charge there. Occasionally, she'd call Percy over to kick his ass in spear-fighting, just to show-off and to make her cabin laugh. While Percy felt humiliated, having lost to a camper when he beat Daedalus, he accepted it, as it kept morale among the cabin up, especially in knowing he he'd totally kick her ass if he could use Riptide instead of a spear.

The Athena cabin was busy with Annabeth in the Big House, drawing city plans and escape routes, constructing strategies, and contingency plans, and all of this stuff. The Apollo cabin was split a bit, between archery, as that would be their main combat role, and medical training, with Winona leading the charge there. Annabeth still hadn't recovered completely, and it's likely that she and Zoë would want to plan a bit more before going to Olympus.

Early on, with how surprisingly well the campers and Hunters worked together, as now they weren't so focused on their rivalry, Zoë claimed that she would be leaving her Hunters to fight alongside the campers in New York, and she would try to convince Zeus to let her stay and fight as well. It seemed unlikely. Artemis' previous prediction about Percy having awaked a great evil or whatever had come true. Zoë claimed that she could feel a massive force slowly awakening, ready to descend on the country come next August. His name was Typhon, and it would take almost all of the Olympians to defeat him and put him back to bed. With Apollo down for the count, at least for now, and with both Poseidon _and_ Hades, it seemed, refusing to fight; they'd be thin on fighters as it was.

"I'll convince them," Percy said.

Zoë seemed skeptical of his claim. "And how will you accomplish that?"

"I'll…make them a deal," he suggested. Annabeth raised an eye. "What? It'll work out," he insisted. Neither of them seemed convinced. "Whatever."

Aside from camp activities, Bianca had been keeping Percy posted on the Mount Orthys. She said that she'd felt some Titanic powers growing both on the mountain and some unfamiliar ones surging occassionally near the San Francisco Bay area, and she narrowed that area further down to the Oakland Hills area. Percy had told her to investigate cautiously, but Bianca said that she didn't turn anything up when she looked, even though Percy had been unable to communicate with her for a few days when she checked it out. Percy could tell she was lying.

After that, he went to Zoë about it, hoping she'd send a few Hunters to check it out, but she deterred him immediately. "The girl is not to blame for her secrecy," the goddess said, somewhat reluctantly. "It is not something for you to know."

After that little conversation, Percy had Bianca exclusively tracking the growth of monsters around Mount Orthys.

"Alright, good," Percy said over an Iris-Message. "Come by here soon; I want to make sure you're combat-ready, alright?"

Bianca smirked on the other end. "Aw, you're worried. That's cute!" she exclaimed. Percy sighed in response.

"Yeah, I'm worried," Percy admitted. "Now are you coming or not?"

"I don't know…that's a _really_ long way…" she claimed.

"Bianca, you can shadow-travel," Percy reminded her.

" _And_ I'm sensing some hostility from the Hunters…"

"Bianca!"

"Alright, alright. I'll be over in about three days. Once I'm 'combat-ready'," she imitated Percy's voice. "I'll head down to the Underworld and check on that, 'mkay?"

"Sounds good," Percy agreed. "See you then."

"Ciao!" she said as she waved the Mist away. Annabeth came up behind Percy as he spoke.

"How are things?" the daughter of Athena wondered.

Percy shrugged. "Eh," he said as she handed him a bottle of water. "Thanks," he drank some of it.

"You haven't been drinking enough," she claimed. "And I didn't even know that was possible for you," she said. This was true; Percy _loved_ drinking water...and soda...and pretty much anything except alcohol.

"…" he didn't answer.

"…You should drink more," she finalized the conversation with that, and inevitably Percy would have to comply. He usually did when she asked something of him, even off-handedly.

Like for example, earlier when she said he should read more? Yeah, remember that weird flashlight thing? Well, it turns out that it was a reading light, but not just any reading light. Any words it shined on were automatically translated (accurately) to Ancient Greek. All Percy had to do, if he wanted to read, was pop on the light, which never ran out of juice, and read it in Greek. Thus, he actually hit up Annabeth's little brothers, who were big readers like their father, only they dealt in fiction (mostly fantasy), and he's been making his way through those.

And with that long tangent, the takeaway is this; Percy listened when his girlfriend said he should do something.

Percy nodded, and continued sipping on his water. "I've gotta go," he said.

"The arena again?" Annabeth guessed.

"You don't know that," he said defensively.

"You practically live there now," she commented. "Are you sure you're not…working too hard?" she was cautious about those words. She knew what he was trying to do. Not only because he enjoyed doing it; Percy trained to show what the others could be like. He was going to follow his own words to the grave, and train harder and longer than any other camper, even the Ares kids. But nobody could handle the stress his body suffers as a result of that for much longer, Annabeth excogitated.

Still, she didn't voice any more objection as he jogged off, Riptide in hand.

A while later, Annabeth's prediction came true. It was later that day, actually. He was showing some of the younger campers some advanced techniques, before working his ass off training separately from them. He finished his flourish exercise, and took a deep breath. It was the only breath he took in that entire sequence of moves. The moment he took it, his vision got blurry and bright, and his muscles gave out a bit. Then, they gave out more, and his vision got dots in it.

" _Uh, hey man, you okay?"_ Riptide wondered. " _There's even less activity going on in your head than usual."_

" _Yeah, I'm uh…"_ Percy was suddenly too tired to respond even in his head. Annabeth noticed his sudden fatigue, and stood at the edge of the arena, only to see him physically collapse onto the ground, unmoving.

"Percy!" she cried, dashing over to him. But by that point, he had already lost consciousness.

xxxXXXxxx

The next time Percy awoke, he was feeling a lot better, if incredibly drowsy and lethargic. He slit his eyes open a bit, to see his surroundings, and soon was able to surmise that he was in the infirmary. " _Oh hey, you're awake,"_ Riptide mentioned. " _You're just in time to help me; I'm looking for a seven-letter word that means 'a strong current in closed-in areas which offer a danger to swimmers/boaters.' You got anything?"_

" _What, are you doing a Soduko?"_

" _It's 'Sudoku,' you amateur,"_ Riptide returned.

" _What happened?"_ Percy wondered, scanning the room. He saw only one other person inside; a pale girl with a blindfold over her eyes, sitting cross-legged with her blade across her lap. " _How long was I out_?"

" _I'll let them explain, but uh…you know what to do…"_

Percy didn't have to think long to come up with what it wanted. "On your left," Percy muttered, just loud enough for Bianca to hear. She raised her head, like she was waking up from a sitting-up nap, but she showed no signs of fatigue. She stared straight ahead, which was directly across Percy's bed from the side.

" _Nice,"_ Riptide said.

"…I don't get it," Bianca claimed before clearing her throat and making her voice less raspy. "Is that a reference?"

Percy frowned. "…You and I need to have a movie night sometime," he claimed. "Platonically, of course."

Bianca giggled. "That's funny; thinking Ana would allow that," she chided.

"She'd allow that faster than she'd allow you to call her 'Ana'," Percy claimed, sitting up a bit. "So…what happened?"

"According to that Apollo girl, you suffered from severe dehydration, muscle fatigue, and what she called 'the Hero Syndrome'."

"What's that?"

"It means you were working yourself too hard," Bianca returned. "So you could be the hero during the battle."

"Oh…" the son of Poseidon leaned his head back against the rest. "I'll take that under advisement, I guess…" he muttered, not entirely happy that he'd have to do so. "…So why are you here?"

Bianca shrugged. "Oh, you know; got here this morning, found out you've been unconscious for three days…so…"

Percy smirked. "Aw that's cute; you were worried," he teased, mimicking her earlier teasing of him. Bianca turned away, her face red. He could tell Minos' manipulation still had an effect on her, perhaps more than he knew; she was still obsessed with Percy, with the fatal flaw being only _just_ kept in check somehow by that blindfold.

Percy had been thinking a lot about the blindfold lately. Not so much because he was interested in the blindfold itself, but rather what it meant. By all means, Bianca's ideas to block her literal sight shouldn't have neutralized her fatal flaw to such an extent. It just shouldn't have, because Nico's explanation of it obviously hadn't been entirely literal.

But somehow, it _did_ work, at least for her. Percy suspected that this was because she _believed_ it would work, which is just about the cheesiest way to say that, but it's the truth. Belief, Percy came to realize through this, is a major flaw _in_ the fatal flaw. The level at which the flaw affected the person varied not only from one person to another, but also by their mental and physical states and how much they believed it controlled them. There was _always_ going to be an effect of the fatal flaw on a demigod's actions, but it could be lessened depending on belief; Bianca was proof of that. Bianca's fatal flaw was kept in check not because of the blindfold itself, but because she chose that blindfold to represent her blocking herself from that temptation of obsession. Percy wondered if he could get something like that to neutralize his own fatal flaw.

" _You already do,"_ Riptide claimed. " _It's blondie."_

" _I don't get it,"_ Percy returned.

" _Your fatal flaw is excessive bravery, correct? This includes never backing down from a fight, and never giving up, and it manifests itself in many ways. Well,_ you _may not give up the fight, but if she does, and you know you can't convince her, then you'll follow her. If she's hurt, you'll have no problem retreating with her to make sure she stays safe. She's your brain, bro; she_ knows _when it's time to fold 'em,"_ it explained. " _On a side, that speculation about fatal flaws was the single most intelligent thing you've ever thought through."_

" _Thanks…I think?"_ Percy returned. He tried to zero his thoughts back on the conversation, and quickly got back into things. Bianca was still turned away, ashamed. He leaned back in his bed and smiled. "My Guardian Angel," he noted. "Or, really, my Angel of Death. Yeah, I like that better."

Bianca turned back to him and smiled, before waving the compliment off. "No, not really; Annabeth was here the whole time. Her cabinmates had to drag her back to the Big House to plan more after I came."

Percy chuckled. "Yeah, sounds like her. So, listen, you may want to protect me, but I'm fine, promise."

"…" Bianca frowned. "…Where else am I supposed to go?"

"I don't know," Percy admitted. "Find something fun to do."

"I don't…know my way around camp," Bianca lied.

"Hmm…" Percy considered this, believing that it was the truth. "Win!" he called.

"Yeah?" the Apollo girl popped her head in, and Bianca freaked out.

The daughter of Hades ducked behind Percy's bed. "Ah! Not her! Anything but-"

"Oh, quit being such a baby," Winona claimed, putting a hand on her hip. Percy, with his boyish hormones, couldn't help but notice that she was developing curves. "All I did was look at your eye."

"I told you not to!" Bianca returned.

"Okay, stop arguing about that," Percy ordered. "Win, can you show Firefly here around camp? I would, but, uh…"

"Right, about that," Win said, remembering to relay his information. "So just another day of ambrosia and nectar for you, and you should be good to go, but try not to move around too much today except to like stretch and stuff. When you walk around camp, _please_ take someone with you," she emphasized that last part, as Percy was _exactly_ the type of person who would do something like that.

"Bianca…" Percy urged her forward.

"But…"

"Come on, it's not that hard to make a friend, Bianca," Percy claimed. "All it takes is a little effort."

" _Man, you must've worked really hard to build that glass house."_

" _Fuck off, Riptide,"_ Percy snapped back in his head. "Come on; at least try. Win won't hurt you," he said. "Win, smile for her."

The girl wasn't good at smiling on command, and gave this awkward half-smile, half-smirk-thing, which definitely didn't help. Soon, she dropped it, and offered her hand. "Come on, Firefly, let's go."

Reluctantly, Bianca put her hand in the younger girl's and then was pulled out. Percy sighed then, alone. "Well, Apollo…" he said to the still-comatose god. "Just you and me…"

" _I'm here,"_ Riptide reminded.

"…Wonderful."

xxxXXXxxx

"And over here are the cabins; separated with gods on one side and goddesses on another," Winona explained, pointing to each of them in turn. "Zeus, Poseidon, Ares, Apollo, Hephaestus, Hermes. Then we have Hera, Demeter, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, and Dionysus," she rattled them off like it was second nature, and then noticed the elongated shadows that protruded from Bianca as she lagged behind, hands curled in a defensive and closed-off position. "…I feel like this is a one-sided conversation."

"…"

Winona cocked her head to the side, confused. She couldn't quite understand why Bianca was acting this way, and she wanted to know. She sighed. "Look, if it's about the blindfold, I'm sorry. I won't touch it again."

"I-It's not that…" Bianca said quickly.

"Then what is it?"

"I just…mm…" the daughter of Hades still didn't want to say.

Winona could make a few guesses though. She took a deep breath. "Come on," she urged her toward the Long Island Sound, where the volleyball courts were located. "There's an open court; wanna play?"

"Can't," Bianca claimed. "I can only see living things."

"Then why don't you…?" Winona didn't finish that question; there was no way Bianca would take that blindfold off for a stupid game. "Well, last winter, not even eight months since I get here, there's suddenly an influx of weird people with bows, like the Apollo cabin. One of them is really happy and bright and fun and kinda naïve. She was a monster in volleyball; _nothing_ got past her."

"…You remember me?"

Truth be told, she really didn't, but Winona had to try _something_ to break Bianca's shell. "You bet!" the daughter of Apollo claimed. "You were incredible. I wanted to play against you _so_ bad, but Mikey wouldn't let us, and then you left…and now you're back, right?"

"…A lot has happened," Bianca claimed.

"…" Winona waited for her to elaborate. Eventually she did.

"It's just…I don't really…have a lot of experience…talking to people…"

Winona raised her eyebrow. "What about last summer?"

"I was basically kidnapped," Bianca recalled. "And yeah, back then, I…was better."

"A bit annoying sometimes," Winona mentioned. "But go on."

"But after I left I…went someplace I shouldn't have. The labyrinth, it…does things to you; awful things. Minos made it even worse…" she shivered at the thought of the mad king, even after she'd killed him again. "…I'm not even close to the same person I was before…"

Winona opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it, before pulling Bianca to the shore. "Listen…" the two sat down. "I can't even begin to imagine what you went through down there. I can't even fathom how you survived, but to me, that doesn't really matter. We've all had hard lives and struggles to overcome."

"I know, but…"

"Bianca," Winona got her attention and kept things from getting off-track. "What I'm saying is…we know what it feels like to be lost, to be isolated. But here is the place where you at least have the choice to have friends, to be in a place you love. I can't force you, but I can at least offer that, for literally saving our asses back when Kronos' army attacked," Bianca considered this. "And even if I'm not the one, there are plenty of people here who would love to get to know you!"

That made Bianca hopeful, but that was something she'd learned to not trust. "…You'll think I'm weird," she claimed.

"So? Percy is weird, and so are Silena and Mikey and Clarisse, and me!"

"…So then…tell me about you. You already know about me…" she asked. Winona nodded.

"Alright, Firefly, here's how it all began…"

xxxXXXxxx

Percy tried his best to go back to sleep, as it would've been the best way for him to pass the time, but he just couldn't. "I'm _so_ bored!" he announced.

" _You're the one that told me to shut up,"_ Riptide claimed.

"No, I'm bored with being in this damned hospital!"

" _Then get up,"_ it suggested. Percy nodded, and stood, feeling right as rain. He stretched, as per Winona's suggestion, and then exited the infirmary. He didn't know what he was expecting to see when he got out, but what he saw was hustle. From everyone, he saw them work and work and work efficiently. It brought a light smile to his face, and also a bit of guilt, as he wasn't planning on working for the rest of the day. Well, he wanted to, but he knew Annabeth would kill him if he tried.

He meandered over to the Long Island Sound. "Agro!" he called his Pegasus, and he came within a few seconds.

" _You called, Percy Jackson?"_ it wondered.

"Yeah, I'm feeling like flying; you game?" the son of Poseidon wondered as he hopped onto Agro's back.

" _Pah! You act as if that isn't what I do best!"_ Agro whinnied as he took off at blistering speeds. It seemed that he'd been pushing himself, like he said he would.

" _Jeez, feels like it's been forever…since last summer, I mean…"_ Percy thought to himself.

" _How do you mean?"_ Riptide wondered.

" _I mean, remember when I lost a race to Silena?"_ Percy recalled. " _Doesn't that feel like an eternity ago?"_

" _Imagine years spent in a-"_ Agro began, only to be interrupted.

" _In a Cyclops' cave, yeah, I've heard it,"_ Percy returned. "Hey, I'm gonna need you at the top of your game come next August, alright?"

" _You think I would settle for inadequacy?"_ Agro, of course, saw it as a challenge.

Percy was confused by the Pegasus' enthusiasm. "You know we're going to war, right?"

" _Of course I know,"_ Agro returned.

"I'll try and let you know of plans before we execute them, but for those battles, I _need_ you to listen to me," Percy announced. He made sure to emphasize this request.

"… _I give you my word, Percy Jackson,"_ Agro said. " _I shall follow you to hell and back to repay my debt to you."_

Percy took a deep breath. "…Let's hope it doesn't come to that, alright?"

After a while of flying, Percy decided to test his horse's mettle, by making him do laps around the perimeter of camp, including the shoreline of the Long Island Sound. After a few of those, actually much more than "a few," Percy let the horse rest a bit. During the resting period, he saw someone away from camp, on the shoreline. Percy couldn't tell if they were trying to be inconspicuous and sneaky, or who it was from this high up, but as he urged Agro toward them, he saw.

"Silena…?" he wondered.

" _Ah! Request another race! I will prove my-"_

"Not now," Percy said, just having a feeling that now wasn't the time. "…Bring us down closer, but drop me off in the woods behind her," Percy requested. He wasn't going to sneak up on her, but he also didn't want to startle her by just landing in her face.

xxxXXXxxx

Silena had had a stressful day. Well, stressful few weeks…stressful years or three. Lately, she'd been foregoing meals to accomplish her tasks and keep up appearances. She'd been spending most of her days at either the Arena to talk with Clarisse, or the Big House along with some of the other, smarter, counselors, to talk strategy and planning. That, along with her duties as the counselor of the Aphrodite cabin, and her cabin slowly starting to give her the cold shoulder due to her flighty-ness and general lack of acting like a camp counselor. The leader of this little subsection of the cabin was a young girl named Drew Tanaka, and she was…a whole other can of worms.

And that wasn't even taking into account her other…problem. It had been eating away at her since the last summer especially, and it was only exacerbated in the recent weeks after the attack on Camp Half-Blood.

Silena was becoming so stressed as she spoke that she was brought to tears. She couldn't even look into the Iris-Message she sent because of her shame. "Please…Luke, please, I _can't_ do this anymore!" she cried, trying to be quiet. She was far enough away from camp to where even if she screamed, she'd likely not be heard, or if she was, it'd take a good thirty seconds for anyone to get to her, which would be plenty of time for her to whisk away the message.

The son of Hermes shot her a condescending glare, even as his eyes were somber and hollow with him trying to empathize. Though, he'd stopped empathizing a long time ago; he had to, if he wanted to survive. "I don't want to hear your excuses, Silena. We've been over this."

"But I _can't_! I can't keep up this façade! I'm already losing control!"

"If you truly can't stand to be there anymore, then leave, and come to me," Luke said matter-of-factly. "It's as simple as that," he said, crossing his arms. Silena's mouth zipped shut in indignation. "But you won't do that, because of that Hephaestus child."

"H-his name is-" Silena stuttered from fear, and was interrupted.

"I don't care what his name is. Here's how it's going to be, my _beautiful_ Silena…you're going to keep feeding me battle tactics and key information…or I'm going to send everything I've got just to make sure he's caught. Then, he and I can… _talk_ ," Luke's eyes lowered dangerously. Silena knew what it meant.

"N-no! D-don't hurt Charlie!" he pleaded. "I-I'll…I'll…"

"You know my demands," Luke said, wiping away the message.

And so, Silena was left with nothing but her thoughts and her tears…but only for a few moments.

"Silena!" Percy called her. "Hey!"

Hastily, the daughter of Aphrodite wiped away her tears, and hoped her manipulation of her own beauty (a normally useless application of her powers) would be enough to hide her pain and turmoil. Percy appeared from the brush, and stood expectantly.

"What are you doing out here by yourself?" Percy wondered. Silena turned around and gave her best smile.

"Just…you know…"

"…No, I don't," he replied. "And…have you been crying?"

" _Shit!"_ Silena snapped in her head. She dropped her smile, and her façade of normality. "Well, I was…on an Iris-Message."

"With who?" Percy wondered, walking toward her and sitting down beside her. Silena mumbled something under her breath. "…Private?"

"Y-yeah…" she said, though soon figured that wouldn't be enough for the overly curious boy. Silena probably would've found him attractive (or at least a suitable play-thing) if not for his insatiable curiosity and loyalty. The reason she found Charlie so attractive and why she wanted to be with him is that he understood personal space very well. He kept his workplace to himself, which Silena didn't mind, and he stayed out of her more personal affairs unless she brought them up herself, which she often did anyway. "Well…I was Iris-Messaging my dad," she lied. "He's, uh…not too happy with me…"

"Oh…" Percy's tone made it sound like he understood. "Yeah, I get that," he nodded to himself. "So…why is he 'not happy with you'?"

"He…" Technically, she hadn't lied about that last part, but from here, she'd have to…exaggerate a bit. "Well…we haven't talked much since I got here; I ran away from home, and Lixis brought me to camp, like you know. I tried to visit him for holidays, but…that didn't go well."

"Mm."

"I just…never thought he'd cared all that much. He was always pretty vain; that's probably why mom liked him, and vice versa. So I told him about…Kronos, and the war, and…" she managed to choke up false tears. "And he just exploded. He demanded I come home, and abandon everyone. I…I-I couldn't do that. I couldn't just leave everyone, leave Charlie…even if I'm not much of a help here…"

"Don't say that," Percy requested. "We all appreciate you here. You're one of the oldest and smartest people here. I know _I_ look up to you, at least."

"You do?"

"Well yeah," he said as if it was obvious.

Silena wanted to say she felt better from that, but it only filled her heart with an even more hollow sadness. "Oh…thanks, Percy. That…means a lot…" her voice faltered for a moment, but she caught herself before it became too obvious.

Percy sighed. Even he, in his infinite denseness, knew that this wasn't helping all that much. "Listen…I know I'm not very good at this…" he started. "I don't have the right words to say. I know that. So I can't help with this. Honestly, I don't think Beck can help you with this either, or anyone else here," he claimed.

"What do you mean?" Silena wondered. "What if I need-"

"No one can help you, Silena. This one's up to you," he interrupted as he stood. "There are some things you have to face alone," he claimed. Percy wouldn't realize why Silena had the reaction she did until much later. Silena broke down into tears, true tears. She dropped to her knees and cried. "H-hey, uh…come on, it's not, uh…" he wasn't sure what to say.

Unfortunately, there wasn't anything _to_ say. The daughter of Aphrodite knew there were only two options for her now, and both would get her killed.

 **Author's Note:**

 **So, unfortunately, this won't be the start of daily uploads.**

 **I'm posting this and up to chapter 51 (because 52 is when Last Olympian picks up) to let you guys know that I haven't been just slacking off. I work retail, and holiday season is super busy. I've been doing what I can; promise. I've got up through chapter 56 written and am going to start 57 after I post this, so I'm trying. I have a day off tomorrow, and other than going to get my paycheck and dropping off flowers for a girl, I'm free to write, so hopefully I can get a good chunk of stuff done. If not...uh, sorry.**

 **Anyway, thank you all so much for understanding and being patient with me. Chapter 50 will likely be up within a few days, but since I work exclusively closing shifts until the end of seasonal, it'll either be uploaded in the morning or late at night; no medium unfortunately.**

 **Fun fact, though: when describing what Bianca had been doing, I originally had her tracking the Princess Andromeda to set up that ti would arrive at the beginning of Last Olympian, but for reasons you'll see next time, I changed it. Now it's a reference to- oh wait, it's a secret until the next series. I forgot.**

 **Thanks again for reading, and don't forget to let me know what you thought!**


	50. All These Things Happening At Once

Bianca dashed back frantically, trying to avoid the razor-sharp nails shooting toward her. She ducked and dodged and weaved through attacks sloppily, and soon one of them connected, catching her leg and causing her to trip up and fall down completely. "Fear not, little one. I cannot promise painlessness, but I can promise swiftness," an icy calm voice approached her leisurely.

"Get away!" Bianca tried to manifest her powers and shoot them at her attacker, but they seemed to be sucked right away from her, even as she willed them with all of her strength to protect her.

Instead, she had to keep running, even with her nasty wound. Her Brotherhood was in her hand, but she knew she couldn't fight this opponent head-on. Besides, she'd already tried that. Soon, she was backed into a corner, with the 'corner' in question being the pit into Tartarus.

She whirled around just in time to dodge another projectile, and saw a hulking form approach. She swung her blade in whip-form wildly, momentarily warding the monster off, but that ended when he shot another projectile, and shot into her arm, making her lose her grip and drop her Brotherhood to the ground.

She held the wound, but found very little blood, just an innumerable amount of pain. The projectile, what looked like a fingernail almost, had shot itself like a needle into Bianca's arm, resting just under the skin to where it hurt the most.

Bianca was picked up by her hair, unable to fight back without her weapon. "Y-you can't kill me! If Percy dies, then I-" she was slapped, the force of the blow probably being enough to snap a regular mortal's neck.

"If you both die, then the Great Prophecy will simply play out at a later date. It is not yet guaranteed that it will come to pass this next August."

"Then I c-can-"

"Do not try to bargain," he said, as he smashed a fist into her cheek. "Find some dignity in defeat."

The beast proceeded to lay a beat down onto Bianca, bashing her face and torso over and over, with one hit in particular knocking her blindfold loose. She tried to reach up and grab it with her good hand, but the monster grabbed her wrist and continued hitting her.

Bianca felt her inner madness begin to return, but she forced it down, or tried to. Soon, though, she was enveloped in darkness. At first, she thought it was her own, but as soon as she was forcibly shadow-travelled away from danger, she knew that it wasn't.

It took her a while to process what happened. Bianca found herself in a throne room made of black glass, with a throne made of charred and melted-together human remains. On the throne was an amused-looking deity, his cocky smirk giving Bianca an even greater sense of inferiority than she already felt upon her brutal defeat. By her side was her Brotherhood, thankfully, and she pulled it close. Once off, her shadow blindfold dispersed in the Underworld. She tried to will more shadows, but they wouldn't come, for the same reason they wouldn't come during her fight; her father wouldn't allow it in his domain.

"Ooh, and I'd call that a flawless victory for him," Hades mocked Bianca. "Try again for a drachma?"

"L-let me u-use my…powers…" Bianca demanded weakly, using all of her willpower not to give into her madness. Even still, she started giggling and felt her powers go out of her control.

Hades feigned considering it. "Mm…no, I don't think I will," he said.

Bianca's emotions left her control then. Even as her father refused them, her madness and will overpowered his. Shadows enveloped her face, making her ebony hair shoot up like black fire, her boney-white irises glowing with power. More shadows shot from her own, threatening to attack Hades, with dead hands emerging from the ground around him and binding his arms to his sides. For just a moment, Bianca was stronger than the lord of the dead. "I _hate_ you!" she yelled, her voice echoing in the dead realm. "I'm gonna _kill_ you!" as she said it, she began laughing maniacally.

Hades remained silent, stunned at this show of power. Bianca, however, either couldn't or wouldn't maintain it, and she finally contained herself by forcing another shadow blindfold around her head. She silently begged it to work, and it did; her powers were her own once again. The girl took several deep breaths as Hades recovered his smarm.

"Oho! Look at that; maybe you _do_ have some of me in there!" he mocked. "Though, you still seem a bit…" his voice appeared right in her ear. "Apprehensive…" he returned to his throne. "About it all."

Bianca ignored the god, just wanting to be happy again. She wanted to finish her job here and leave. "…who was that…?"

"The brute you fought?" Hades wondered. "He was nobody special, really. It was just-"

xxxXXXxxx

"Iapetus?" Percy wondered as he heard Bianca relay her findings in the Underworld.

"The Titan of the West," she explained. "Also known as the Piercer. He's emerged from…somewhere. The point is: he's in the Underworld. I don't know his exact whereabouts, but he might be amassing an army of his own to overthrow Hades or something."

"So…bad news bears," Percy summed up.

"Yeah," Bianca answered.

"Hey, uh…not to get off topic, but you seem pretty shaken up, and you look it too. You didn't try to fight him alone, did you?" Bianca didn't answer that, and hoped that it would come off as her not hearing. It didn't work. "Bianca…you could've gotten yourself killed."

"I would've been able to do it if I could've-" she faltered.

"If you could've what?" Percy wondered.

"N-nothing," she said hastily. "Just…"

"Hey-o!" Winona exclaimed as she came into view at the bank of the Long Island Sound. "Artemis is looking for you, Per- Bianca!" the girl rushed over to see her. "You look terrible! I told you to eat more! And why haven't you seen me for those injuries?!" her demeanor went from friendly to deadly in record time.

Bianca stepped away from the message nervously. "I-I, um…" she didn't know what to say. "Just…please send someone down here. Percy. You'd probably be the best, but…"

Today was just about the one day that Percy was unavailable. Because today was the day that they were going to go to Olympus. This was why Winona was so chipper; she could finally find out what the hell's been going on with her.

Thankfully, none of Apollo's annoying traits have manifested themselves, but she's self-quarantined herself while she slept, as one time, she had a nightmare and burned a hole in her bed from the outburst, and gave the guy above her third-degree burns on his ass. They've had to replace…quite a number of beds since then.

"Right," the son of Poseidon assured. "Well, we've got to go. Try and keep tabs on Iapetus; we'll probably need you to shadow travel us down there."

"I…can't…do that…"

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Because I can't," she didn't elaborate. "Zoë can teleport you though, being a goddess and all."

"You know, you gotta wonder why she didn't do that last winter after Westover…" Percy thought aloud. "Anyway, gotta go for real."

Winona pointed at the daughter of Hades. "Hey, you'd _better_ stay safe, Firefly."

Bianca laughed nervously at that. " _She makes it sound like she's threatening me…"_ she thought as they wiped the message away. She released the tension in her body, and hoped her father hadn't heard that she'd sent for help. He expected her to face this battle alone, and with the limited assets he allowed her. It was completely unreasonable.

Back at Camp Half-Blood, Percy and Winona jogged up to the Big House, where everyone was gathered for the journey. Annabeth, Zoë, Thalia, Chiron, and now Percy and Winona were there too.

"Hey," Percy greeted. "Sorry that took so long, but we've got a problem."

"Then we've got two," Thalia claimed. "The Princess Andromeda was spotted by Pegasus riders; not too far from camp. They might be planning another attack."

"Well, they'd fail," Annabeth explained. "With the barrier up and with no way around it, only an immortal like a Titan could pierce through and attack. Luke isn't stupid enough to do something like that on his own, if he's even on the ship right now."

"I was actually thinking the opposite; this is a perfect opportunity to strike, and take it out before it can breed any more monsters," Thalia expounded. "We might not get another chance like this until next August, when the fighting has already started and our forces are thinned. Now, while we're dense and powerful, we could provide a swift end to it."

"I am inclined to agree with my lieutenant," Zoë said. "We might not get another chance like this."

"B-but…what about me?" Winona wondered.

"I never said you are not going to Olympus," Zoë made a silver letter materialize, and handed it to the young girl. "You, Percy, and Annabeth will go on my chariot. Give that to the Olympians, return Apollo to his throne, and deliver Kampê. Those are my requests before you begin to ask questions. Are they acceptable?"

Winona nodded, relieved that she would still get her answers. "Yes, they are."

"Actually, they aren't," Percy brought up. "You know that other problem? Iapetus has appeared in the Underworld, and threatens to topple Hades."

"What?"

"Impossible!" Chiron exclaimed. "The Lord of the Dead would not allow this."

"Bianca told me, and I trust her. She tried and failed to ward him off, so I don't know how long it will take before he makes his move to take the Underworld. We need to send someone, or multiple people, to help."

Zoë considered this. Annabeth beat her to it. "Then you go," the daughter of Athena said. "You're the strongest we've got, and no offense Seaweed Brain, but you would be more of a hindrance than a help up on Olympus."

Percy nodded. "That's fine by me."

" _Jeez, why are all of these things suddenly happening all at once?!"_ Riptide moaned.

"Wait," Thalia spoke up. "I'll go too," she claimed.

Percy raised his eyebrow. "Why?"

"Yes, why?" Zoë was also curious. "I thought you would want to-"

"If at all possible, I don't want to see Luke again," Thalia interrupted. "Apologies, but I feel I'd be better off helping Percy, and, if I help her, then the death girl will owe me a favor in which I need her unique abilities. Besides, I still need to make up for what happened last winter."

" _Backstabber,"_ Riptide insulted, showing Zoë's salty side. The actual Zoë glared at Percy, though more at Riptide.

"What? It wasn't me," Percy claimed, probably confusing everyone there except Zoë. " _Dude, would you shut up?"_

" _You can silence me, but you can't silence the truth!"_

Zoë scrunched up her nose. "How is that me?"

"I've got no clue," Percy agreed. "Anyway," he brought the topic back around. "To summarize, Annabeth and Win are going to Olympus, Zoë, her Hunters, and some campers are going to the Princess Andromeda, and Thalia and I are going to the Underworld to beat the shit out of Iapetus. Does that about sum it up?"

"Yep."

"Sounds good."

"Affirmative."

"Fine by me."

"That's rich," everyone turned to the new voice, where Ethan was standing in the doorway to the basement.

"Gods, go away, Ethan," Annabeth got up in his face.

"Don't _push_ me, damsel."

Annabeth's eyes flashed in anger, still bitter from his apathy toward camp during the Minos incident, but Percy held her back. "You were told not to leave the basement," he reminded the son of Nemesis.

"Except I overheard your plans," he said, as if that justified it. "And I thought it was hilarious."

"And why is that?"

"Because you actually think you have a chance on sinking that ship," Ethan spat. "It's impenetrable, and impossible to sink."

"We will see," Zoë said, not thinking much of the bitch-ass demigod arguing before her godliness.

"…Unbelievable," he said. "You're actually going to go through with it?"

"I am. What of it? You don't think a god stands a chance?"

It seemed Ethan saw that as a challenge. Either he'd repressed that side of himself all of this time, or his isolation has deprived him so much of his masculine impulses that he just had to act like the top dog. "Let's put it this way; if that ship is destroyed, then I'll turn traitor and help you."

"Which you already refused to do," Percy noted.

"Exactly," Ethan said, turning around and stepping down a step. "Enjoying being slaughtered," he said.

The group shifted a bit, not sure how to continue from that. Percy turned to Annabeth, kissed her cheek, and stroked her hair to calm her. "You shouldn't let him get to you."

"I just…don't understand how a demigod could be so unfeeling towards our home."

"Well…he does feel something; otherwise, he wouldn't have helped us escape from Antaeus, right?"

"No, he did that to save his own ass, and to help his friend, who still hasn't woken up yet," she noted. "It's unbelievable that he doesn't want to help his family. I mean, at least Luke-" she stopped herself. "N-never mind…" she tried to hide her face.

"Enough," Thalia turned to Zoë. "I assume you can get us to the Underworld?"

"Of course," Percy and Thalia stood side-by-side, and soon were enveloped in silver light. When it faded around them, they were left with the darkness of the Underworld filling their senses, with the moans of the dead echoing through the endless, cavern-like realm.

Thalia took the opportunity to say something. "You should spend more time with Annabeth," she mentioned.

Percy, always attentive, didn't hear her, or otherwise chose not to acknowledge that statement. "…Always sounded like Stone Tower Temple down here to me."

"I don't know what that is," Thalia said, annoyed, though she didn't show it visibly, by him ignoring her. "And before you start, I don't want it explained."

"I wasn't gonna do that," Percy said defensively.

"Yes you were," Thalia said, beginning to walk. "Let's hurry up and find the death girl."

"Hey, she has a name," Percy reminded, getting slightly irritated already.

Thalia blinked. "…Sorry," she said, sounding a bit genuine. "I guess Zoë's been wearing off on me more than I realize."

"I'll say. Lately you've been a lot more…mellow…" Percy used the word cautiously; he didn't want her to thing he was saying that she was acting like a stoner or something. Thankfully, she didn't seem to take it this way.

"Well, after last winter, I've been trying to not get so angry all of the time. You saw what happened when I got angry; I betrayed all of you, and nearly got us killed. For you it may work to give you strength; for me, it just puts people in danger…"

"…Can't argue with that. So, what have you been doing, out of curiosity?"

As Thalia explained, Percy realized that he was having a halfway decent conversation with her. Maybe it's because they've been away from each other for so long, and there wasn't as much of a reputation to uphold for either of them, or maybe they both just grew up a lot within the past eight months.

"Well, I tried meditation, and that worked out alright," she explained. "But it 'mellowed' me out a bit too much. I wasn't really alert during encounters is the thing. Eventually, I realized that it was all mental. The trick," she turned to face him. "Is to know the _exact_ moment to change mindsets. After a while, it became natural, to switch between calm and mellow, to fiery and ferocious during fights. And that's where I am now."

Percy nodded. He sort of understood. "So it's not so much you trying to physically calm yourself, it's all in your head," he summed up. Thalia nodded. "I went through a similar thing. After Atlas, I couldn't get over it. Every night it was the same; I fail in that encounter. Soon, all of my doubts imploded on themselves. After that, things were just…bad. I couldn't do anything right. I nearly got Annabeth killed."

"And yourself?"

"Well, yeah, me too, but who cares?" he said off-handedly. "It took a while, but I realized that it wasn't…a problem that could be overcome. I just wanted everything to be normal, where I wouldn't have a prophecy, a life of a warrior. That couldn't happen; I'm a slave of the Olympians and their prophecies. So in the end, I had to accept it, and mind a meaning in all of the chaos."

"And?" Thalia had stopped and locked eyes with the son of Poseidon.

"The prophecy will play out. The Olympians will triumph through my actions. But I fight for me," he concluded. "For Annabeth and for those at Camp Half-Blood. I refuse to stop and pay tribute to the gods when they all still need me."

"Evermore onward," Thalia summed up. Percy nodded. The Hunter looked Percy up and down, her eyes sharp like an eagle's, and she took in every detail. "…You're taller."

Percy tilted his head, confused. "O…kay? Thanks?"

"It wasn't a compliment."

Percy sighed. "I figured. Anyway, let's get a move on. I don't want anything too bad to happen to Bianca before we get there to help…"

xxxXXXxxx

After a couple minutes of Annabeth attempting to fly the chariot to Olympus, Winona took the reins, and found it to come natural to her. It was an odd feeling; she knew exactly what movements to do to make the chariot do what she wanted, but her brain didn't know, so the feeling just felt incredibly foreign.

Thankfully, she would only have to deal with it for a few minutes due to the chariot's speed, and when they arrived, they were immediately met with many-a-satyr, who saw the comatose Apollo sitting inside, and offered to take him off of their hands.

"No thanks," Annabeth said, waving them off. "We're seeing him to his throne personally," While the satyrs looked disappointed, they abided. Annabeth hefted Apollo up and half-carried him off of the chariot. "Alright, the throne room is over there," she pointed. "We should hurry up before any of the gods think we…" she looked at Winona who was in awe of the beauty of Olympus. Annabeth smiled. "Oh…it's your first time up here, isn't it?" Winona did a little nod.

Soon, Winona shook her head, reminding herself that they weren't here to sight-see. "W-which way are we going?" she asked, not having heard the daughter of Athena before. Annabeth pointed at the farthest building.

The two made their way there, drawing a small crowd of creatures faithful to Apollo, and even some that weren't, as this wasn't exactly a regular occurrence unless he got roofied a lot in one of his misguided attempts to hit on people. Who knows, maybe Artemis roofied him a lot for this reason.

When they got to the throne room, they found it almost empty, save for Hestia in the back room, tending to the Heart of Olympus. "Well, this is…ominous," Annabeth noted.

"Should we…wait for them to get back?" Winona wondered. Annabeth shook her head.

"As soon as possible," she repeated, taking Apollo over to his throne. As soon as she tried to lift him up into it, however, she was blasted back by an invisible force, along with Apollo. It wasn't his power, of him returning to his full strength; he was still comatose. It was his throne rejecting him…spooky. "What the hell?" Annabeth demanded as she shoved the god off of her. Winona didn't respond. "Win?"

When she looked, Annabeth saw that she seemed to be in a sort of trance, as she slowly inched toward the throne. The resonance between them seemed to vibrate the air, and Winona's body slowly began to glow and rise in temperature. When she reached her hand to touch the throne, she stopped, as she saw her shirt was on fire.

"Gah!" that broke her out of her trance, as she started flailing around, trying to put out the fire.

At this point, as well, a few gods came to investigate the disturbance in their throne room, with the gods that came being Demeter, Athena, and Dionysus. "What is the meaning of this?" Demeter questioned, seeing a demigod, a god, and a girl on fire.

"Help me!" Winona pleaded, even though she didn't even feel the heat of the flames. Dionysus lazily waved his hand, and a large ball of wine appeared and fell on Winona. Thankfully, it didn't contain enough alcohol to catch on fire itself. Winona let out a sigh of relief.

"Mother," Annabeth addressed the goddess. "Lady Demeter…Mr. D," her tone became noticeably more cynical when she said his name, and he reciprocated that feeling in spades.

"Yeah, yeah, just tell us why you're here," Dionysus seemed more annoyed than curious. Zeus probably ordered them to come here, so this would be like a chore.

"We-"

"You have come to return Apollo," Athena guessed before her daughter could explain.

"Yes," Annabeth replied. "But when we tried to put him back on his throne, well…it didn't let us. Do you have any idea why?" The goddesses exchanged a confused look.

"Um, actually, before we ask questions…" Winona pulled out the paper from her pocket, but it turned to charred dust in her hands, so whatever was on it was lost forever. "O-oh, um…I mean, Kampê is outside in the chariot if you, uh…"

"You, what is your name?" Athena questioned the young girl, as the gods shrank down to mortal size from their gargantuan forms.

"U-um…Winona Solace," she said timidly. Annabeth didn't blame her; it was the first time she was surrounded by such overwhelming power before, and with all of it directed at her. "It's nice to meet you, Lady Athena, Lady Demeter."

"And…?" Dionysus prodded.

"Oh, hello Mr. D," she answered more casually, having taken his presence for granted. "How is your vacation going?"

"Is that was Chiron called it?" Dionysus groaned. "Hardly."

"Well, at least you don't have to deal with the Hermes cabin stealing your personal stuff, right?"

"That's right," the god of wine agreed. It was still odd to see him talk so casually to anyone other than Chiron, but Winona had that effect on people, that she could make even the most surly of gods partake in a casual, friendly conversation. Dionysus has gone on record saying that Winona was the only camper he respected as more than a good sword arm.

"Back on topic, please," Athena requested.

Demeter walked up to Winona. "Let me see your hand, child."

Winona offered it readily, only to have the goddess cut into her palm. "Agh!" she yanked it away, surprised. Demeter pulled it back however, and saw thick golden ichor drip onto the floor.

"Hm, then it is as I feared…"

"You know what's wrong with me?" Winona questioned. "Can you fix it? _Please_ tell me you can fix it."

"Truth be told, child, I am not sure this is something to fix. Consider when Artemis passed her role to her lieutenant. It appears that Apollo has done the same for you, if not unconsciously."

Athena was kneeled down at the comatose god's side, checking his eyes for response to stimulus, which they did. "He is still alive, but seemingly stuck in a vegetative state. No doubt this is the work of the Labyrinth cutting him off from the sun."

"B-but if he's alive, then he could take this back, right?" Winona's voice started sounding panicky.

"Calm yourself," Athena said somewhat gently. It was a tone Annabeth hadn't quite gotten down yet. "Let us list what we know. Apollo, god of light, the sun, prophecy, and archery, is in a coma due to extensive time being cut off from his power source. When recovered, his powers, and his blood, transferred to you, Winona Solace, his daughter. I believe we can all come to the same conclusion. At least for now, you, Winona, are the goddess of the sun."

"M-me?!" the girl shook her head frantically. "N-no! No, no, that can't be right! I-I can't do…this…"

"Is it possible for the transference to work in reverse?" Annabeth questioned, trying to stay calm for Winona's sake. " _Poor thing…she's in way over her head, and she didn't even really have a choice in the matter…"_

"Hard to say," Dionysus spoke up. "Maybe when she learned to control Apollo's power, but that could take years, decades even, if she makes it that long. At this point, we don't even know if she's a full god. Though, there is an easy solution to that."

Annabeth shot him an unamused stare. "I'm not gonna try to kill her."

"Then don't complain," Dionysus returned.

"Even if it was possible, it does not guarantee that Apollo would wake up from having his powers returned," Demeter mentioned. "I say they're better off in conscious hands."

"B-but…I…I don't want this. I don't want any of this!" Winona cried, clearly freaking out. Annabeth recalled Bianca saying the same words before dashing off, down the worst road she could possibly take.

Annabeth wouldn't let that happen to a friend. She approached Winona and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, let's calm down," she started.

"Calm down?! Do you have any idea what it's like to-" Winona started to rant, but Annabeth stopped her right quick.

"No, I don't know what you must be feeling right now," Annabeth admitted. "But freaking out won't solve anything. If we want to work through this, then we need to keep our heads, alright? Now come on, deep breaths…in and out…" after a few moments, Winona seemed to have soothed a bit. "Okay, from what we know, we don't have a way to reverse this, at least not yet. So, then you're just going to have to live with it."

"I-"

"That's the truth, Win. There's no point saying it isn't," the daughter of Athena said, before turning to Demeter and Athena. "Is there anyone she can go to learn about her new powers? Anyone who can teach her?"

The two goddesses didn't even hesitate. "Artemis."

"…What?"

"Her powers and abilities are almost identical," Demeter claimed. "Only Artemis' influence in nature, and Apollo has influence in prophecy."

"And song," Dionysus piped up. The goddesses grimaced.

"Do not bring that up…my ears are still ringing from his 'falsetto'," Athena shook in disgust. "In any case, where _is_ Artemis? She sent word that she would be visiting along with you, but…"

"Well, a few things came up," Annabeth explained. "Iapetus is in the Underworld; Percy and Thalia went to deal with that."

"You believe two demigods can match a Titan?" Demeter was baffled.

"I believe Percy and Thalia stand a decent chance, yeah, and Artemis thought so too. She approved of them," Annabeth replied. "As for Artemis herself, the Princess Andromeda, the ship where a good chunk of Kronos' army lay in wait, passed by really close to us. Artemis took her Hunters to try and get an early advantage in the war."

"She what?!" Demeter snapped. "That foolish girl!"

"W-what? What's wrong; she's a goddess."

"Yes, but Kronos himself is on that ship! The King of the Titans is cunning, ruthless, perhaps even more so than Atlas, if not weaker than him physically. Artemis may be at full strength, but Kronos may well still be out of her league by a large margin. We need to contact her."

"But by now, the fighting will have already started!" Annabeth announced. "They left at the same time we did."

"Then we must end aid!" Athena exclaimed.

"Send us!" Annabeth requested. "We can go, tell her of the situation, and get her to retreat."

"No," Winona spoke up. The four turned to her. "Just send me."

"…What?"

"Win, you don't have control over Apollo's powers yet. You can't-"

"I have to start somewhere, and it's _way_ better than your plan, which will get you killed," she claimed.

"Kid's got a point," Dionysus mentioned. "I'm game," he held out his hand. "I'll drop you above it."

"Wait, what?" Winona wasn't sure what he meant by that, and didn't get a chance to hear his answer, as soon she was popped into existence elsewhere, and started hurdling toward the ground at terminal velocity, straight toward a yacht.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Heya! Here's chapter 50. Note, I haven't read the actual thing with Iapetus, so any similarities are coincidental.**

 **Other than that, I have very little to say. Um...oh! If you guys are a little weary about the whole Apollo subplot, don't worry. I'm not gonna rush it, but it won't play a major role in Last Olympian either, so if you're not digging it...just bear with me.**

 **But guys, that's all I've got. Don't forget to let me know what you guys thought in a review!**

 **Oh right, and expect chapter 51 by Thursday at the latest. I got off early from work tonight, and Thursday is my day off, but I don't expect to get home any earlier than 11 until then so...we'll see.**

 **Anyway, see ya!**


	51. The Huntress And The Wolf

If there was one word to describe the first half of the assault on the Princes Andromeda, it would be intense. The Hunters moved like wolves in a pack, silently creeping under the shadow of the new moon, climbing up and onto the empty deck.

The plan had been gone over previously; a small group of Hunters would infiltrate and disable the engine, while another would work to root out the bigger monsters hidden within the depths of the cargo hold. Meanwhile, the rest of Zoë's Hunters would surround every available opening to snipe as many of the ship's passengers as possible, monster or demigod.

Of course, nothing every goes as planned, but Zoë accounted for this. What's listed above is the plan if everything went perfectly. Zoë knew that it wouldn't, that Kronos would literally sense her presence. Thus, most of the plan remained, but Zoë made sure to make herself as visible as possible to Kronos.

She hung back, waiting for her Hunters to get into position, before jumping aboard herself. As soon as she touched down would be the signal to open fire. Instantly, over a hundred arrows were let off, and the engines were disabled as well, just as a burst of golden light and around five hundred more monsters and rogue demigods charged through to confront the Hunters.

There were no words, as Kronos' death stare, given through the face of a troubled demigod named Luke, was all that was needed. Instantly, the Hunters were at a disadvantage; they'd underestimated just how many allies Kronos had gained.

Zoë spent more of her time saving her Hunters than she did fighting Kronos, even as his attention was focused squarely on her. His golden eyes shined bright with rage, as millennia of built up hatred for the Olympians finally had its outlet. He wanted nothing more than to crush them, and make them pay for the sins they committed against him.

Zoë was at a disadvantage anyway, but her goal wasn't to win the fight. She tried to keep this in mind as she was smashed through about a dozen monsters and into the wall of the yacht. " **Come now, little girl…you mustn't throw your life away so suddenly,** " Kronos' voice echoed alongside Luke's own, a cocky smirk plastered on their shared face as he walked nonchalantly up to her as she stood.

"I am _not_ just a 'little girl'!" Zoë snapped, refusing to take any of Kronos' smarm. She let loose a barrage of arrows, which Kronos deflected, so that she could launch her own assault, managing to push the Titan Lord back a few steps. "I cannot _wait_ until the day when you are thrown back into the deepest pit of Tartarus with the world's worst evils!"

Kronos chuckled, spreading his arms out in challenge. " **I'm touched that you think I'm not the worst of them all,** " he mocked. Zoë, in frustration, attacked again, but to little effect. Kronos just casually avoided or outright took her blows. " **Show me that wonderful divine form of yours. I do so wish to look upon its beauty once more…** " he said wistfully, pushing her back slightly. Zoë, unnerved at first, offered a small smirk of her own.

"I had thought you more intelligent than my father, but if you truly believe you can withstand-"

She would've gone on, but Kronos suddenly lurched forward in pain, nearly doubling over. " **Foolish…boy…your job is…done!"** he struggled out. The goddess of the hunt took her chance, and attacked the Titan Lord, or at least, she tried to. "No!" Kronos' voice was gone. "Don't attack! Your Hunters are being slaughtered down below!"

Zoë hesitated, and just as quickly as it had disappeared, Kronos' presence reappeared, and swatted the goddess away. "What…what was that?" Zoë asked herself.

" **Don't mind that. The boy and I are having a…disagreement,** " Kronos claimed. " **Now…where were we?** " He wondered. The goddess of the hunt had to make a split-second decision, but it wasn't that hard. Instead of engaging Kronos directly, she let loose a barrage of arrows and summoned a horde of wildlife to attack him, as she made a mad dash for stairs. Unfortunately, she was too slow, or was she…? It was odd, but everything in the world seemed to slow down for a brief moment, even as the Titan Lord stayed in full motion. " **Had you forgotten who you're dealing with?** "

He grabbed Zoë by the hair and hoisted her up, with time returning to normal then. He attempted to stab her through with his sword, yes, his _sword_ , not scythe. Zoë was faster, however, and parried the blow before kicking him straight in the face. The impact was enough to stun Kronos for a brief moment, but it only allowed Zoë to land before he recovered, where he tripped her up (in a technique that _definitely_ wasn't the work of the Titan himself, but his host), and then blasted her through the floor with an energy wave, with them no longer needing to be charged beforehand now that Kronos' blade was fully reformed.

Thankfully for the goddess, this was exactly where she wanted to go. She landed hard, but on her feet, quickly surveying the damage. At least five Hunters down and ten more wounded, with the rest of the twenty-five trying to contain casualties. What was attacking them? Possibly the worst possible monsters ever; drakons.

There were two, a Lydian Drakon, and an Aetheronian Drakon (not to be confused with the Aethiopian variety, which were much smaller than this behemoth). Each was at least two hundred feet long, with the Lydian one being about thirty longer than that, serpentine, and had scales line its entire body which looked so razor sharp that it was like they could cut if you looked at them.

Now, okay, there were monsters and colossi that dwarfed that size, and were buffer (Talos, anybody?), but what made drakons so dangerous was their requirement to kill them. Each species of drakon had a destiny. No matter what one did, no matter how much damage one inflicted upon it, it wouldn't die unless the finishing blow was dealt under certain conditions. There were many different varieties of drakon, and one could be killed with but a shoe, but these were the big boys.

A Lydian Drakon could only be killed by the seed of Ares that has gained his blessing. The first person who came to Zoë's mind was Deimos, but that would have to wait until later.

The Aetheronian Drakon was perhaps the strongest, as its (as Zoë's annoying sword alter-ego might put it) "win condition" is that only if the seed of all the eldest gods fought as one.

It seemed unfair, as not even the powers of the gods could override this. Only the Fates had such a power (and maybe the protogenoi). While they couldn't outright control fate or destiny, if something amused them, they'd find _some_ way to make an exception to the rules.

" _But…how?"_ Zoë thought incredulously upon seeing them. " _They should have taken centuries to form! Has Kronos amassed such overwhelming power that he could revive them in half a decade?"_

She wanted to get the monsters' attention away from her Hunters. As a goddess, the only things that could kill her were other immortals, like Titans and other gods. This would mean only pain, not death, for the young goddess. However, right at that moment, Kronos fell through the floor as well, landing right behind her. Zoë knew the fight was lost; they were only find themselves slaughtered or captured if they stayed.

"Retreat!" she called, sending the message telepathically to her other Hunters. "We live to fight another day!"

" **Little girl, if I wanted you to leave, I would've shown you the door.** "

Kronos attacked Zoë, as she was trying to help to her feet one of her Hunters, and blasted her away and into the wall, as the drakons attacked her sisters. She tried to get up and help, but Kronos wouldn't let up, blasting her away again, further and further away from where she was needed.

She saw the drakon cut down three of her sisters, with two more becoming too injured to run. They'd soon be next.

Zoë felt her emotions begin to go out of control, which was extremely dangerous for a god. " **Good, good…give into your anger, your rage. It's a good feeling, to just let everything go and stop caring about your brethren,** " Kronos goaded.

Zoë doubled over as she tried to contain this immense power. She saw her own form flicker between her normal self and one made of pure energy in the color of starlight; her divine form. She'd never felt this way before, not as a goddess. She couldn't tell whether it was good or bad, or even how to keep it under control.

All she knew, and all she needed in the end, was that if she let loose her divine form, it would obliterate her Hunters, leave her helpless, as divine forms drain a considerable amount of energy by letting almost all of a god's essence out at once, to be captured and used as a hostage, or just outright killed. She couldn't have any of that happen, and soon, the feeling of losing control subsided.

Annoyed, Kronos resumed his assault, launching Zoë into the air, and then blasting her further, back onto the deck of the ship, where the Hunters from the lower deck had gathered after narrowly escaping the drakons. Zoë tried to do a headcount, and it may have been off, but it looked like she lost at least thirty Hunters; which was thirty too many.

Zoë would admit that she severely underestimated Kronos, which she didn't even think was possible.

Monsters and rogue demigods surrounded the Hunters as they readied their bows for one last stand. Kronos emerged from the crowd, a pleased grin on his face. " **I don't know if I was expecting a more riveting 'welcome home' party, or if you just couldn't deliver?** "

"Is this all just a game to you?!" Zoë questioned.

Kronos frowned at that. " **…You compare my glorious return to a 'game'? Insolent…** " in a rage, he slashed through one of his monsters like it was butter. " **You know nothing of the trials I have overcome to get this far. Soon, you Olympians shall know the despair I have felt for over three millennia! Starting with you,** " Kronos raised his blade in challenge.

"I…" Zoë didn't have anything to say to that. She knew she wouldn't be able to bargain with Kronos; he was too cunning to be out-bartered. "I am…truly sorry," she said to her Hunters. "I…have failed you all," Even as she said it, though, Zoë noticed the area getting hotter and hotter, and light shining like it was broad daylight. Finally, she looked up, to see a ball of fire hurdling straight towards the yacht. Luckily, Zoë was the first and only person to pick it up. "Don't look up!" she ordered, sending her will into every word, so much so that many of her Hunters looked downward in response.

Even for a goddess, the sun god's divine form was intense. Thankfully, being of the same race of immortals, Zoë was largely unaffected by the form's sheer ferocity. Heat surged from the body, sending pulses so hot that it caught the wood on fire. Hell, screw the wood, the _ocean_ was on fire, it was so hot. Not only that, but it also came with the standard package of divine form power. Any of Kronos' minions who glanced at it were vaporized instantly, not even getting the dignity of being reduced to ash.

"Brother!" Zoë called, sensing his presence. Inwardly, she felt it strange to consider that fool of a man her 'brother', but technically he was, if they were going by specifics. " _This means that he had returned to his old self when they returned him to his throne!"_

" **Ah, how I've missed that light…** " Kronos reminisced, even as he knelt beneath the divine form's power. Unlike Atlas, who was incapacitated (granted, he'd just fought and wasn't expecting it), Kronos remained able to fight.

Zoë felt a smile creep onto her lips, but it faded just as soon as it had come. As instead of Apollo's form emerging from the light, it was that girl's. Winona Solace plummeted toward the yacht, her body slack. She had fallen unconscious from using the form, it seemed. Zoë, acting quickly, caught her. "Retreat!" she yelled before Kronos' army could react. The Hunter dove off, and dove under the waves to avoid arrows. Zoë had to remain slightly above the water, to keep Winona's head up and shield her from arrows anyway.

Zoë had an all-around bad feeling about this encounter. Not only was Kronos' army much larger than they anticipated, but they had many more powerful monsters than the Greeks ever could have prepared for, at least without the knowledge that they were there, which was…something. Kronos himself was also much stronger than expected. Even at full-strength Zoë stood no chance at besting the Titan, unless she'd been in her divine form.

Ultimately, there was one takeaway from this encounter: the Greeks still had a _long_ way to go before they were ready to go to war.

xxxXXXxxx

Thalia and Percy met Bianca at the gates of the Underworld, the toll booth thing, where she was resting with Cerberus. The dog, in a stark contrast from last time, only looked up lazily as Percy came by, content with the company he already had.

"Bianca!" Percy rushed over to her, seeing her still pretty badly beat up, and knelt down. "Hey, you okay?"

Bianca shrugged and smiled, standing as if she didn't have a gnarly gash across the back of her leg. "I'll heal," she assured. "I, uh…didn't expect anyone but you," she noted as Thalia caught up, being noticeably more uncomfortable around her, due to her being a Hunter.

"Hello," Thalia greeted. "Where's Iapetus?"

"He's camped outside father's palace, near the pit leading to Tartarus about a hundred yards out from the entrance," she claimed.

"And…why hasn't he attacked?" Percy asked, knowing that it was probably a stupid question.

"Father won't let him. Iapetus is waiting for reinforcements to launch an assault. Right now, it's just him. Though within a week, it could be thousands of monsters."

"So we want to take him out now," Percy concluded. "Any ideas?"

Thalia crossed her arms and lowered her head in thought. "…I don't get it; why would Lord Hades allow this? Surely he could banish Iapetus to Tartarus in his own domain?"

"Well…" Bianca rubbed her chin nervously, having a little half-grin on her face. "It's probably because he wants me to do it…without help…"

"What do you mean?"

"When I first got here using shadow-travel, I didn't go where I wanted. Father brought me to his palace, and I…got to meet him for the first time."

"Was he smarmy?" Percy asked.

"Very," Bianca confirmed. "He knew of Iapetus' attack, but he said he wanted me to 'prove myself' as 'the true seed of the Underworld' or something."

"Gross…could he have picked a worse word than 'seed'?"

" _Sperm?"_ Riptide suggested.

" _Don't talk,"_ Percy returned. "So…what happened? And why couldn't you use your powers to shadow-travel us here?"

"Because Hades isn't allowing you to use your powers?" Thalia guessed.

"They can do that?" Percy questioned, thinking of all of the times that he would've been royally boned if he didn't have his powers.

"Only in their domain or in places closely connected to them, under normal circumstances. If they really wanted you to not have powers, they could use more of their essence to will your powers away," Thalia said. "Such as, my father forbade me from using lightning on a hunt following my betrayal, as a lesson. The hunt took place on Zoë's chariot in the night sky, against aerial monsters…it wasn't fun…" her eyes shadowed as she recalled her fear of heights.

"I can tell," Percy said, uninterested in the story. "So wait, Bianca; you tried to fight a Titan by yourself, without your powers?"

"…Yep…" she seemed to realize the stupidity of the decision.

"…Do you have a death wish?" Thalia questioned.

"Well, I _am_ Percy's Angel of Death," she turned it back around to him. Thalia stared at him condescendingly, like _he_ was the one who put the idea to fight The Piercer in her head.

"Hey, what? No way, nu-uh," he shook his head. "Just…can we get back on topic please?"

Bianca giggled, acting more like her usual self. "I can lead you to Iapetus, and I have my sword, but…"

"Then it's best if you stayed at a safe distance," Thalia said. The words visibly hurt Bianca. Percy then saw something he didn't think was possible. Thalia, affectionately, put a hand on Bianca's shoulder, and smiled, giving her a warm reassurance. "Trust me; my life is much more expendable than yours," she said. "This is _just_ to keep you safe from harm while you're injured."

Percy couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw Bianca blush at that, which was weird. "Alright. Lead the way, Firefly," he said when the two separated.

The trek through the Underworld was about as dreary as the last time Percy had to do it. Well, it was a little better, in that last time, his goal wasn't guaranteed to be there, whereas this time it definitely was. Cerberus was nice enough to give them all a ride on his back, even though it went against Hades' orders to guard the Underworld entrance.

Within an hour or two, they were at a hill overlooking where Iapetus was located. The Titan was silently waiting for the moment to strike. "So what's the plan?" Percy asked. "I figure you've got something."

Thalia nodded. "Are you going to screw it up?" she questioned lightly.

"Inevitably," Percy returned.

" _Amateur,"_ Riptide insulted.

"Whatever. I want to talk to Hades," Thalia claimed, garnering odd looks from her companions. "And before you say anything, I'm well apprised to the fact that he hates all three of us. My line of thought is that I'm the one that poses the least threat to him, especially because my role in the Great Prophecy is null. I'm going to try and convince him to aid us."

"You'll never make it there without the Piercer noticing you," Bianca noted.

"Which is where Percy comes in: he's to hold off Iapetus while I talk to the Lord of the Dead. After that, either I will join him, or Hades will join him," the daughter of Zeus continued. Both of their eyes were on him as he stared right at the distant Titan.

"…You remember what happened last time he went up against a Titan," Bianca mentioned, half-playful at best; even _she_ could understand when to stay her wit. "You sure he's up to this?"

"I don't know. Is he?"

Percy took a deep breath and rubbed the scar on his neck. He still had nightmares about that day; that fear would never leave him for as long as he lived. "…I refuse to be a victim of that day anymore. I refuse to be a victim at all. Today, I make my own fate," he vowed, shifting his hand to grip the owl pendant around his neck. "Evermore onward."

Bianca stood, stowing her fear of this incredibly powerful adversary, and grinning. "Then it's decided!"

" _She's acting awfully cheery for someone who just had a near-death experience,"_ Riptide mentioned.

" _Think she's hiding something?"_ Percy wondered.

" _Not sure; the crazy ones are always tougher to read."_

With that, the plan went into motion. Bianca's role was…well, to be honest, she was a glorified cheerleader in this battle due to her injuries and lack of powers. Thalia found a way around the main battlefield, while Percy waltzed straight up to Iapetus. The Titan heard him coming a mile away, and was standing waiting for him, his hands firmly behind his back.

His eyes were different than the Titans he'd seen before. Whereas Atlas' looked almost human, and Prometheus' lack irises and pupils, Iapetus' were just…odd. They looked almost feline, like a tiger's, and were as cold as them too. It looked like his eyes reflected the coolness and precision needed to prowl and hunt for prey. As they bore into Percy, his immediate feeling was one of uncomfortableness, as he was being watched very closely. The Titan's body was nothing to write home about, save for being twelve-feet tall. Well, that's pretty remarkable, but he was no Atlas, to be sure; didn't even have the extra set of arms.

"Welcome," the Piercer's voice was as icy cold as his stare.

" _To prehistoric park,"_ Riptide did its best impression, adding a bit of grandeur to complete the reference.

Percy wanted to laugh, but he couldn't in this moment. " _What is this, 2008?"_

" _Touché,"_ Riptide returned.

" _It's pronounced 'touche',"_ Percy gave a reference of his own, looking the Titan up and down as he did.

"… _Was that a Drake and Josh reference?"_ the sword questioned, sounding disappointed. Percy didn't respond. " _…What is this, 2004?"_

"… _Touche."_

"Where is the girl?" Iapetus wondered.

"Over there," Percy pointed behind him. "But you don't need to worry about her," he lowered his eyes and drew his blade in challenge. Iapetus laughed dryly when he saw that Percy aimed to fight. It sounded almost robotic, like this guy lacked even a soul, or he was just really bored.

"I was sent to conquer the Underworld. I had not expected the _dreaded_ Cruel Spider to come to _me_ to throw away his life."

Percy scowled at the Titan. Not for the insult, but rather for the title. He'd actually given it a lot of thought, but that isn't important at the moment.

"Though, if you insist, I would be willing to give you a satisfying death."

"Enough talk!" Percy snapped as he charged toward the Titan. Iapetus seemed a bit startled by the ferocity of Percy's attacks, like he was expecting someone much less skilled.

Percy managed to get a good few shots in on the Piercer, before being forced back by his wide sweeping strikes, used to ward the demigod off. Then, as Percy was about to go in for another assault, he saw Iapetus shoot out…things. In the dim light, it was difficult to make out, but Percy managed to block whatever the projectiles were with a wall of self-made water, which he was able to create quite easily after months of intense practice. However, once the first wave of projectiles was done, the Titan immediately shot out another seventeen, and Percy was forced on the defensive.

"… _Would be real nice if I had a river nearby…"_ Percy thought in his head as he was busy dodging and blocking projectiles.

" _I'm sorry, I can't hear you over your whelching. Focus!"_

The walls of water weren't enough, so Percy deflected many of them manually, with Iapetus' last shot giving the demigod a fraction of a second to see what it was…and he still had no idea.

"What are these things?" he wondered, though he didn't have time to think about it, as the Titan was then right on him, laying down a crushing blow which Percy just barely dodged. "Okay… _this_ is the power I remember…" he growled through grit teeth, seeing the crater that Iapetus had created with the attack. Percy actually saw that the Titan had impaled the ground where he struck; pierced it, if you will.

When Iapetus removed his hand from the ground, Percy realized that it was the first time he'd seen them. They were cracked, well-worn, and had nails that could literally cut diamond.

" _Guess that's why he's called the Piercer,"_ Riptide noted.

Percy blasted the Titan with a stream of water, knocking him off balance, but it didn't help much in the subsequent offensive, with Percy being forced back again by the projectiles, which Percy actually discovered were his razor-sharp fingernails.

Unfortunately for Percy, he couldn't hold out forever, and was soon hit directly with one of them to his side. Immediately, an immense amount of pain seared into his abdomen, and he held the area, expecting a river of blood, but he felt no such warmth.

Instead, when Percy looked for a split-second, he saw that the nail had embedded itself just below the skin, where it hurt the most. He wouldn't get much time to examine it, though, as the ground started shaking, and a rumbling was heard from Hades' palace. A wave of shadowy energy shot from the building, and Thalia was sent spiraling out and was met with a hard landing where Percy was, actually falling on top of him.

"Ah! Gods! Motherfucker!" Percy cursed as he felt another round of searing pain in his side from the wound being irritated. Both of them stood. He soon calmed himself, as Iapetus was cautious to attack with Thalia's arrival. "No luck?" he guessed.

"Let's just…focus on the Titan," Thalia still hated admitting her failures. "You look injured."

"I'm _fine_!" Percy snapped, refusing to back down. "But…I wasn't able to do much."

"Not surprising. I doubt I'll be able to add much either," Thalia mentioned, as the Piercer started approaching. "We can't kill him; only other immortals, even the least of them, have that power."

"Wait, aren't you immortal now?"

"It doesn't count when it's a blessing, or so the moon goddess tells us. Only if I were naturally immortal, like Zoë was."

The two got too lost in conversation, with their ADHD showing, as Iapetus attacked. The two were forced to dash apart, with Percy landing sloppily due to his injury. "We need to end things quick!" he called to Thalia.

"You can do it!" Bianca called excitedly, finding the fight to be entertaining.

"Great contribution, Firefly…" Percy muttered. "Thalia!" he called her name, as he didn't get a response. Iapetus was soon on him, trying to finish the job he started.

Meanwhile, Thalia was busy planning. While she wasn't as good at improvising as Luke or Percy, she could do so in a pinch most times. She took note of her surroundings, and thought of a plan.

Thalia dashed toward the Titan to help Percy, but it honestly didn't look like he needed much help. The way he fought was unlike anything Thalia had ever seen; he was far more skilled than he was when they'd last met, and his ferocity was akin to a wild beast, like an alpha wolf hunting prey. It was pure instinct driving him, and the intensity in his eyes showed it as they glowed a brilliant sea-green in the dank air of the Underworld.

She held her Aegis high to at least partially affect the Piercer, before jumping up and bashing it into his cheek to get him off of Percy for a time. She relayed her plan in as few words as possible.

"We're going to knock him into Tartarus," Thalia claimed. "You need to restrain him, and then we hit him with everything we've got."

"Restrain- are you insane?!" Percy questioned. "I ca-" he faltered, reminding himself not to say those words again. "I-I'll try!" he leapt into action, sheathing his blade and creating two water whips, which he locked onto Iapetus' wrists as he went to throw more nails at them, with one projectile being thrown and just barely grazing Percy's cheek.

Once the whips were around the Titan's wrists, he shot as much water down into the pit to Tartarus as he could, weighing the restraints down. Percy willed the whips to hold, before leaping back to Thalia, whose entire body seemed to be conducting electricity; she'd been honing her abilities as well, being able to channel lightning through her body now as well as her spear.

Percy built up power within himself as well, with water surrounding his body in small wisp-like spirals, begging to be shot off with his latent energy. The two stood so close to synch their powers that their cheeks were pressed against each other. Thalia held her hands horizontal, while Percy held his vertical, and they made a little cross shape with them. "On my count," Thalia said.

"What? No, on _my_ count," Percy returned, arguing even as Iapetus slowly started to break free of his bonds.

"Percy! We don't- you know what? Fine!" both of their powers neared the point where they'd go out of their control. "Hurry!"

"Okay, 1, 2, 3…now! Go, go!" he called frantically. In a miracle, both of their powers synched perfectly, with an incredible amount of force being condensed into a small electrified ball of water shooting toward Iapetus at like Mach 3. As soon as the blast made contact, it exploded like an elemental bomb, blasting Iapetus well into the pit area, where he fell into the endless darkness of Tartarus, roaring in anger all the way down.

It took both of them a minute to process that the battle was over, and they both immediately plopped down onto their asses in relief. "Whelp, I guess I can say I beat a Titan…phew!" Percy wiped the sweat from his brow, before wincing and crying out in pain from the wound he suffered in his side. "But damn! How the hell am I supposed to deal with this?"

"Hey, you guys!" Bianca rushed over. "You were _so_ cool!" she exclaimed, grinning.

"Yes, well…" Thalia looked away. "All in a day's work, I suppose."

"Oh come on! You can feel proud about this!" the daughter of Hades claimed.

"She's right, Thalia," Percy said. "You're the one that came up with the plan to beat him."

"It _really_ wasn't much of a plan," Thalia said, trying to fight the urge to give into her natural inclination to take the credit. "Besides, I…probably wouldn't have been able to pull it off without your extra power."

"You mean how _I_ pulled half of your weight and more?"

The girl lowered her eyes. "Don't push it."

"Got it. So, Firefly, uh…how do you, uh…?" he gestured to his side.

"You rip it out," Bianca claimed. Percy gave her an incredulously look. "What? How do you think it got the gashes on my arm and leg?"

In the end, it was up to Thalia to hold him down, while Bianca took out the nail, having to reach in and rip it up through the skin. "Okay, okay, you're gonna warn me when you do it, right?"

"Don't be such a child, Percy," Thalia said, even as she pinned his arms to the ground upon his request.

"Right…but you'll warn me?"

"Of course I will," Bianca assured, even as she deftly shot her fingers into the opening and grabbed the nail. Blood oozed from the now-open wound. Percy cried out in immense pain. "Oh yeah, I'm doing it now," she said as she yanked, and ripped the nail up, causing blood to spurt. "There, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

Thalia let go, and Percy's hands immediately shot to the wound, using his powers to desperately try to heal it. While it was probably healing it a little bit, it was a wound inflicted by a damn Titan, so it would probably take at least a few days of ambrosia and nectar to finish the job. "This…is…the worst…pain!" Percy choked out as Bianca giggled, looking like she was enjoying his suffering.

" _Jeez, she's a masochist…"_ Riptide mentioned. " _Please don't ever give me to her; I don't want to know what goes on in that head of hers."_

He was too busy wallowing in agony to respond.

xxxXXXxxx

The trio then exited the Underworld, and once Bianca got her powers back, she shadow-travelled them to camp. There, they saw an unexpected number of Hunters in the infirmary. Zoë, though, looked relatively unharmed.

She actually looked really glad to see them when they arrived. "Thalia!" she called the girl's name as she dashed up, acting like a mother to her child, which…technically, she was…? Gods are weird.

Zoë, upon reaching her, reached up a pet Thalia's hair, feeling her forehead and acting…very un-Zoë-like, in Percy's opinion.

" _Weird, Annabeth never acts like that,"_ he thought off-handedly.

" _You don't do that for her either,"_ Riptide pointed out.

"… _Fair enough,"_ Percy shrugged, finding the interaction just odd.

Still, this was an important thing for Percy to see, as it explained to him why Thalia had shown a similar form of kindness and warmth to Bianca back in the Underworld; it seemed Zoë/Artemis had rubbed off on her more than she realized. Still, Thalia swatted away the loving hand of Zoë.

Percy crossed his arms. "Hard to imagine you two hated each other last year," he mentioned.

"Yes, well, a lot can change in a year, even for a god," Zoë nudged Thalia. "Or a demigod. In any case, how did it go? Any issues?"

"That's my line," Thalia spoke before Percy could answer. "What the hell happened to the Hunters?"

"I will explain later. Just know that we will be staying at camp. I have convinced the Olympians to let me stay and help here," she said. "I believe it is best if we prepare along with the campers, for we…were severely underprepared for Kronos' might."

Thalia seemed to accept the answer. "…Continue."

Percy was about to speak again, but then he was interrupted. "Oh, it was awesome, you should've seen it!" Bianca claimed. "They were both great," she smirked. "Even if Thalia totally got owned by my dad."

Zoë shot the girl a glare, and looked to Thalia was confirmation. The daughter of Zeus shrugged. "I didn't get to fight much. It was mostly that idiot," she pointed to Percy, who _still_ didn't get to relay his side of the tale. "He fought bravely and ferociously, like a wolf on the hunt."

"Perhaps I shall make him one of my own, then," she eyed Percy threateningly, almost matching the former Artemis' stares.

"You mean…figuratively, right?" he wondered.

"…" Zoë sighed. "Fine, be a dullard. Honestly, I had thought you more a horse with blinders; always staring straight ahead. It would have fit your blood, just as Thalia sees all like an eagle, or that…other girl, sees nothing like a black ram whose horns grow too long and block its vision."

"That last one was…oddly specific," Percy mentioned, though Zoë just continued.

"Now though, I am inclined to agree with Thalia."

Percy nodded. "Well, being a wolf is better than being a damned spider," he decided. "I'll gladly be your wolf if it means we don't lose another moon goddess. Just don't butt into my life unnecessarily, and I'll protect you."

Zoë chuckled. "Oh no, I was being general, but if you so desire to be _my_ wolf, then I can oblige," she held her hand out to transform him. Percy stepped back nervously.

"T-that isn't-"

Zoë began laughing. "I can see the appeal of scaring you mortals now!" she claimed as she laughed. Percy frowned, and left then, with Zoë having to return to caring for her Hunters. Bianca followed, at Percy's behest, after Thalia reminded her that she owed the daughter of sky a favor.

"What's up?" Bianca wondered as they reached the lakefront.

"I just have a couple of questions, and an update on what I want you to do."

"Okay…"

"First, update: stay in camp. Recover, work to train and get stronger, get your powers under your control."

Bianca's heart skipped a bit. " _Does he know about…when I lost it?"_ she thought, referring to when she nearly killed Hades…or at least scattered his essence.

"I want you in top shape come next August, and I'll get Thalia to train with us too. I need some good sparring partners."

" _Oh…he's just being Percy,"_ she thought. "Alright. That's fine. Um…questions?"

"Yeah, just one, actually."

"Okay, shoot."

"Why did you fight Iapetus by yourself?" he asked, crossing his arms expectantly.

"Because…" Bianca hesitated. "Because father wanted me to-"

"Bullshit," Percy interrupted. "Because you're not a liar, and you said your allegiance was to me, did you not?"

"Well, _technically_ I didn't, but I mean…I implied it, I guess…"

"Bianca, don't avoid the question," Percy said, like an older brother would almost. Bianca was actually a bit relieved that he took that tone, rather than a more intimate one.

She sighed. "Well, I…I wanted to be more like you…I guess…" she said. Percy waited for her to elaborate. "You're brave and strong…and you can do things that no other demigod can. You have the opportunity to do something that _matters_ , you know? I wanted so badly to be like you, but…" she trailed off.

Percy took a deep breath. "Don't say 'if I were you', Bianca, because you're not," he said, before getting a pounding in his head from Riptide belting a song out.

" _Doooon't say 'if I were you'! Or tell me what you'd do!"_ it sang in an overly edgy voice.

"Shut up, Riptide," Percy said off-handedly. "Bianca, you should _never_ try and be like me, alright? Because being 'me' is just about the worst thing you could be."

"What? How…why would you say that?"

"Because it's true. I'm a royal fuck-up, Bianca. I've failed everyone around me so many times, and…I'm still trying to make up for those mistakes. I'll probably be making up for them my whole life. You, though, you've got the chance to be something incredible. You can choose not to be bogged down by what happened before. You aren't weighed down by this 'great destiny', like I am."

" _How things would be if, you were in my shoes!"_ Riptide continued.

"Shut _up_ , Riptide!" Percy repeated, more forceful this time. "Imagine your whole life, your legacy, being boiled down to a single choice. Do you want that? Because if you want to be like me, then you're accepting that."

"…No," Bianca muttered, turning away. "But…I think you've got it wrong…"

Percy furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

" _I'll_ remember you for more than that," she claimed. "And I'll tell everyone about you. I'm sure everyone else will too, even after you die, the gods will say your name and remember _all_ of what you did," she said, getting a lighter look on her face. "At least, that's what I think," she said, beginning to walk away. She turned back to face him, leaning down a bit with her hands behind her back in a playful manner. "And hey, didn't you say you going to make your own fate today, or will people not remember that you beat the Titan of the West?" she wondered before jogging off, presumably to catch up with Winona.

Percy blinked after her before scratching the back of his head. "Well, she's got me there. I really don't give her enough credit for her brains, do I?" he asked Riptide.

" _Cause you're not me!"_ Riptide finished the verse. At the end of his rope with the reference, Percy took the pen out of his pocket and threw it into the Long Island Sound before releasing a sigh of relief. " _I'm not leaving,"_ Riptide claimed, causing to Percy to let out a growl of frustration at the sentient sword.

xxxXXXxxx

Thalia and Bianca left camp after the de-briefing, going back into the Underworld, actually. It was a day trip, so to speak. It was a short trip to the Fields of Asphodel and the Fields of Elysium, to search for a specific soul. "I heard that you were able to call your deceased brother from here?" Thalia said. Bianca nodded, still not really sure what Thalia wanted.

"Yeah, but only the one time, and it was only-"

"Good, I need you to try and call another soul."

"Well, I don't know if I can…" Bianca shuffled on her feet. She didn't like being alone with Thalia; the daughter of Zeus was too high-strung for Bianca's tastes. "My father might still be blocking my powers."

"…At least try," Thalia's tone sounded like she was begging. "Please, I need this."

Bianca tilted her head in confusion. "…Who do you want to see?"

"His name was Jason," Thalia said. "And he was my brother."

xxxXXXxxx

The de-briefing itself was rather dull and depressing. There was plenty of bad news. This included Winona still having no way to reverse her becoming a god back to Apollo, and the Hunters taking heavy losses over an utter defeat. The only bright spot was that Kronos' plan to take the Underworld didn't execute fast enough to get the necessary troops down there, and they were able to stop that.

So then the plan was this; prepare like before until next August. No more attempted offensives; they'd probably all be traps, given how this one turned out. Zoë would try and help Winona in any spare time she had; thankfully, as a goddess, she didn't need sleep like everyone else did.

Still, they knew their first target once August came; the Princess Andromeda. If Kronos had built up such powerful monsters as drakons, along with a literal army, they couldn't afford having him replenish the troops he loses during the fighting. The problem? They already tried strength in numbers, and it would take a massive single force if that was their next option, which they didn't have. Even Percy, as a child of the Big Three, was unable to sink it back during the previous summer.

Anyway, that was about it.

Zoë dismissed the meeting of counselors and select Hunters, Thalia and Bianca trekked back to the Underworld for Thalia's favor, and Zoë requested that Percy and Annabeth stay.

"What is it?" Annabeth wondered.

"This could be nothing," Zoë started. "But I thought it best to tell you. Something odd occurred during my scuffle with the Titan Lord. He was going on about his superiority, when something happened. It appeared his host was resisting Kronos' commands, and he even gained enough control to warn that my Hunters were in danger below deck."

"…" Percy and Annabeth exchanged a look. "Luke helped you?"

"Yes, he tried to," Zoë confirmed. "As I said, it could be nothing, but-"

"It doesn't matter," Annabeth interrupted. "Not anymore."

"Annabeth…?"

"Luke had his chance to come back, now he's going to fall along with the Titans," she spat bitterly.

"…Are you…feeling alright?" Percy put a hand on her shoulder. "I mean, he's done some awful things, but…you used to care a lot about him, not two months ago," he mentioned. "What happened?"

" _Maybe you rubbed off on her a little too much,"_ Riptide suggested.

"Nothing happened, Percy," the daughter of Athena said. "We just can't afford to have those thoughts clouding our judgement, you know?"

"Agreed," Zoë said. "In most circumstances, it would be best to cast out thoughts of sympathy."

" _Then why did you tell them?"_ Riptide questioned. Zoë shot Percy a glare.

"…Sometimes I wonder which of you is more annoying," she said.

"Why, because we have personality?" Percy retorted, his inner smart-ass getting the best of him.

" _Oooohhh!"_

"Hmph, if _that_ is what passes for 'personality', I will have to pass."

"Whatever," Percy got things back on track. "Even still, Annabeth. I didn't think you'd just flip the switch like that."

"Percy," she shot him her signature steely gaze like she was judging him. "If we don't 'flip the switch,' then everyone here is gonna die. And _I_ can't let that happen. I'm guessing you _definitely_ can't let that happen, right?"

Percy blinked. She hadn't acted like this towards him in a long time. "Well, you've got me there," he conceded.

"You've got to promise me that if you get the opportunity, you'll crush him, by any means necessary."

"Promise," Percy said. " _But only for you,"_ he had to remind himself that it wasn't for the gods.

Annabeth then smiled. "Good," she said before kissing his cheek. "Now go shower. You smell like death," she forced him out the door. Almost automatically, Percy started making his way towards the showers.

" _You know, sometimes I wonder how you two still function?"_

" _Not very well when we're apart."_

xxxXXXxxx

After Thalia returned, she sought Annabeth out specifically. "Hey Thalia," the daughter of Athena greeted. "What's up?"

Thalia grabbed the girl's wrist and tugged. "Let's go somewhere private."

"Um, okay…what for?" Annabeth asked, even while being dragged out of her cabin and into the woods. "You seem, uh…on edge. Is something wrong? Did something happen?"

Thalia shook her head. "No, nothing happened. Well, not yet," she didn't finish that thought. "Anyway, I wanted to give you something."

"Um…?" Annabeth, at this point, was simply confused. Thalia never gave presents, even on birthdays. She didn't see them as necessary. Speaking of birthdays and ages, it was really weird to think that both she and Thalia were now physically about the same age. She still saw herself as, what, almost three years younger, maybe more?

As she watched, Thalia unclipped her signature bracelet, normally fitting the wearer's preference in appearance, now just a regular wristband. "I want you to have this," she said it so matter-of-factly, that Annabeth nearly laughed.

"What?" she smiled, thinking it was a prank. "You can't be serious; Aegis is one of your greatest assets. You wouldn't-"

"I would," Thalia claimed, forcing it into Annabeth's palm, and curling her finger over it. "Keep it close, always."

"But…this is yours…my mother gave this to you," Annabeth tried to give it back. "She gave to you as a gift, for protecting me. I can't-"

"No, she didn't," Thalia interrupted. "She gave it to me so I could better protect you, not because of it. I…I never _was_ able to do so, and I'm sorry for that. You were always having to save me, and you had to live all of those years alone at camp when I was a damn tree…and then with Atlas…" the daughter of Zeus lamented. Annabeth shook her head. The bracelet was beginning to feel a lot heavier all of a sudden, or maybe it was Annabeth's own arms getting weak from emotion.

"Thalia…" the daughter of Athena felt a few droplets of tears on her hand, and quickly tried to wipe them away.

Thalia quickly got over her own emotion, seeing how it was affecting her friend. "Anyway, I figure it's in better hands with you."

"B-but…"

"Annabeth, listen…" Thalia put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. Annabeth thought she was really pretty when she smiled; it was a shame she did it so rarely. "This is for me. I need to think that I've done something to help you, okay? I need to think that…" her smile faded. "That if you survived, that I helped…or if you died, that I'd done what I could…"

Annabeth shook her head. "I don't…don't talk like that. I don't like it…"

The older girl brought her into a hug. "You can't run away from that possibility, Annabeth…you know that…"

The two just stood there for a while after that, letting everything sink in.

xxxXXXxxx

"Percy," the boy heard his name, and was soon met with Beckendorf, who was looking as pale as a sheet, or as close as he could for his skin tone. "Been looking for you."

"Hey, Beck. What's up?" Percy wondered, not used to being sought out by the Hephaestus counselor. "Problem with Silena?" Percy guessed.

"No," the man's voice was deadly serious. "…I thought of a way to destroy the Princess Andromeda."

"Really?!" Percy's eyes lit up. He knew if anyone could invent a bomb big enough, it was Beckendorf. "That's awesome. Let's go tell-"

"W-wait," Beckendorf stopped Percy was marching back up to the Big House. "I need the method to be kept on the down low, alright?"

"…Why?"

Beckendorf sighed. He knew there was only one way to explain it; from the start. "See, all children of Hephaestus have this…latent ability, normally unusable, and extremely…fatal."

 **Author's Note:**

 **Apologies that I had to jump around so much at the end; there was a lot to set-up/pay-off. Anyway, a couple things about this chapter.**

 **First, that reference to "You're Not Me" has been in the works since literally the beginning of Titan's Curse. I don't care that it's from Yu-Gi-Oh; I think it's hilarious.**

 **Second, you remember that one time in DBZ that Goku and Vegeta were inside Buu and blasted him at the same time? Yeah, Thalia and Percy v. Iapetus was built around that.**

 **Third, my decision for Percy's, quote, 'spirit animal', unquote being changed from a spider to a wolf was...basically planned from the beginning as well. Both are brutal, vicious creatures, but wolves are more known for their leadership and pride and honor, which is ultimately how Percy matured throughout the story. It kinda makes the title irrelevant, but whatever; I don't care.**

 **Fourth, uh...foreshadowing.**

 **Also, thanks "J" for your support; this story wouldn't be nearly what it is without our long discussions about things being "so cool" like when we came up with Bianca's sword. Thanks man!**

 **Other than that, thank you all for reading and don't forget to leave a review!**

 **P.S. chapters won't be this long in the future except a couple really important ones. So...yeah. See ya!**


	52. You At Least Owe Me That

Approximately one year later…

August 15th. This was the day that everything went to hell. This was the day that the fighting broke out.

Things had been relatively peaceful, almost too peaceful, for the past year. Kronos had tried to bait out a few more attacks, but after some scouting, which revealed that they were all traps, the campers decided to ignore them. Nothing much happened, but a lot had been improved, refined, or decided.

An early decision was for Chiron to be out of the fighting area. If anyone had to survive this, it had to be him. If everyone else died protecting Olympus, he would have to be there to build the campers back up in both number and spirit. Where would he be?

Well, when this year's batch of new campers arrived, they were given an admittedly unfair choice. Percy wasn't going to lie to them. He told them that they were about to go to literal war, and that many of the faces they saw at camp during the summer, would be gone by the end of August. He said that they could either train and fight (they would make sure they played defense the whole time) or they could train, but not fight, and be basically guaranteed to live on. Of the forty-ish new campers, only five decided to fight and it turned out that they were all either children of Ares or Athena anyway, so it was basically a given.

Back to Chiron, he would be taking those that wouldn't fight to his brethren. While wild, Chiron claimed, they would aid one of their own, especially against monsters.

Thus it was left entirely to the campers (and Hunters) to decide how things would play out. The gods were largely separate. This day, August 15th, a massive force awakened, due to a combination of events, most caused by Percy it turned out. Typhon, father of all monsters, emerged, forcing the gods to deal with it. The struggle, as explained by Zoë, would take several days and all of the gods' combined strength, especially with their dwindled numbers, with Apollo out of commission, Zoë in Manhattan, Hades…being a prick, and Poseidon busy both being a prick and dealing with ancient ocean spirits and deities, like Oceanus. Zoë said he was lucky Pontus doesn't give a shit, or they'd all be screwed. Well…she didn't say it that crassly.

The home base for the campers was, surprise, surprise, near the Empire State Building, but not actually _at_ the monument. See, the gods did this really neat-o thing where they let the campers bypass the whole elevator thing, which, if things got that close, would be a hindrance to them, and just made temporary stairs, which led all the way up to Olympus. Now, being gods, they could make it so it could take twenty steps, or it could take a thousand steps, so it didn't really aid Kronos, or at least his army, because they could make it so his forces could never truly reach Olympus. Though, even the gods admitted that they likely couldn't keep someone as powerful as Kronos out without full attention being placed on keeping him out, which it wouldn't because, you know, Typhon was a thing.

Conveniently, Percy's apartment lay within the 'home base', which was actually a rather large area, spanning a couple blocks, so it worked out that way too.

Okay, okay, to address the elephant in the room; how is it that they were able to do all of this and not at least get some weird looks from the residents of the city. Well, Morpheus, god of dreams, wanted to fulfill a part of the Great Prophecy; _And see the world in endless sleep_. Over a week before the fighting started, the entire city of New York was put to sleep, and the campers took that week to both scout out where enemy camps were, and remove the people that were in the way of where the fighting was most likely to take place. While Celestial Bronze weapons couldn't harm them, even while asleep, campers could still easily trip over them, and monsters could definitely hurt them if they wanted, so…all in all, it was necessary. Now, whether Morpheus did this out of the goodness of his heart or not, well, that was left up for grabs.

"Percy," Beckendorf shook him out of his thoughts. "Hey, you can't be zoning out on me today of all days."

"Right, sorry," Percy said. "Just thinking through the plan."

One might call it a reckless decision, but the campers were making the first offensive; they _needed_ to destroy the Princess Andromeda. Everything about this strike, of two demigods against an army, was meticulously calculated by the Athena cabin; they'd spent weeks planning it, and had contingency plans for the contingency plans.

Still…when they were going over it just that morning, it seemed so far off. Now, as they rode on Agro toward the harbor…

Percy had tried to keep the mood light, but it was absolutely impossible, given the gravity of what was about to happen. Let's not sugar-coat this here; this was a suicide mission, at least for Beckendorf.

All children of Hephaestus had a special property about them; they could release fire. Legend says that in ancient times, Hephaestus children had a natural immunity to flames, but modern children didn't, thus they usually go their whole lives not even knowing about it. Beckendorf, though, found out in a freak accident, when he got too frustrated working on one of his projects; it was why he never seemed down or frustrated at camp, to keep the fire under control.

Beckendorf's idea was to use that power and make himself a living bomb, exploding right where it would hurt, and sink the ship that way. For months, everyone except Silena tried to talk him out of it, and the only reason she didn't was because she didn't know his plan, at his behest. Unfortunately, his mind had been made up. Something had happened to where he wanted sweet revenge against Kronos/Luke, and he wouldn't tell a soul why, not even Silena.

So then, that brought them to that day. "I can see the ship," Percy said solemnly, as if saying "here's your coffin."

"I see it," Beckendorf peered ahead. "Not much patrol from the skies. Should have a clean landing."

Percy nodded. He was dying to turn Agro around and just forget about it, but…not only would it likely spell doom for the campers if this yacht didn't sink today, but Beckendorf would never forgive him. Instead, Percy worked up the courage to ask a dying man's last request. "Hey…when I get back, what do you want me to say to Silena? To everyone?"

"…Never really thought about 'everyone'," the son of Hephaestus admitted. "But, if you could," he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a letter. "Can you give this to Silena? I, uh…wrote it last night, as a kind of…goodbye," he looked bashful.

" _Idiot,"_ Percy thought, fighting back the urge to punch him.

"I know, kind of cowardly not to say it in person, but…I think this is for the best…trust me…"

"…I just don't understand why you're so intent on doing this…" they drew closer to the ship. "What happened to make you want this? You owe me that."

Beckendorf, with a look of complete content on his face, stared into the horizon; it was the last time he'd get to see it. "Because…I found out that Silena had been…a traitor, a spy, since the very beginning…"

Time seemed to stand still. " _…your campers aren't as loyal as you think they are…"_ Luke's pompous words rang in Percy's head. " _I have eyes and ears everywhere at Camp Half-Blood…"_

"It's showtime," Beckendorf said. In a daze, Percy obeyed, jumping off of Agro and landing in the water, before propelling himself up onto the deck, attracting the attention of the monsters on guard detail.

Immediately, about sixty monsters surrounded Percy, but he willed the water around them to come to his aid, forming a protective ring. Any monsters who tried to get close were skewered by water spikes. "What's wrong?!" Percy yelled at them, even as his words felt hollow. "Come and get some!"

" **In due time, little hero,** " Kronos said as he came out from within the ship. Percy gasped when he saw the Titan. He looked almost exactly like Luke, but had a couple distinctions. His skin gave off an almost otherworldly glow, but it wasn't like an aura. It was as if the skin itself was shining. Second, and more disturbingly, Luke's normally sky blue eyes were this unnatural golden color. Kronos' influence was clear; Luke was no longer in control.

Out of the corner of his eye, Percy saw Beckendorf swoop behind the ship while no one was looking.

"Let Luke go, Kronos!" the son of Poseidon demanded. "He doesn't deserve this!"

" **He doesn't?** " the Titan Lord chuckled. " **Was it not him who first began resenting the gods?** "

"Because you tricked him!"

" **No, foolish boy. It was because daddy-dearest never answered any of his prayers, even in his most desperate times. Oh, you should've heard the boy's tale; it really was quite heart wrenching; all of those empty promises...** "

"Tch, so what? You took pity? Don't make me laugh."

" **But enough about me, Cruel Spider, let's talk about you.** "

" _Don't_ call me that!" Percy growled. "That's not who I am anymore!"

" **It doesn't matter anyway. In just a few days' time, you'll be nothing more than a memory.** "

"Why wait?!" Percy shot his water forward, blasting away the monsters in his way, and leapt up to Kronos, who handily side-stepped the strike, and flicked Percy away, literally. Percy tumbled across the deck and slipped off entirely. He crashed into the water, feeling it fuel his own powers, and he rose out and up to meet the Titan. Percy threw everything he could muster in that short period of time, and the force of the waves he shot rocked the ship as it hit Kronos, though the Titan just held up a hand and let it pass by him.

" **Really, is this necessary?** " Kronos asked as he yawned.

"What? You don't want to fight me?" Percy questioned.

" **Really, this isn't so much a fight as it is a disappointment. And as I said; in due time.** "

"Tch, fine, mark the date; August 18th. That's the day you go back to Tartarus!"

" **Though I still have to question why you're here, little hero. I know you are a fool, yet I didn't think you were stupid enough to try and attack us all on your own. What's your big plan? It's something that Annabeth girl came up with, no doubt. You always were an obedient little puppy."**

Percy smirked. This was something that he knew he had on this asshole. "Actually, it was someone else; someone who you know nothing about."

Kronos seemed equally confident. " **Please, do tell.** "

"He's…" Percy hesitated, remembering the plan, and knowing that Beckendorf only asked for a couple minutes. In fact, he could feel the power that the man was radiating. "He's…a hero."

Kronos, at that point, noticed the same power that Percy felt, especially when Percy shot himself away from the Princess Andromeda as fast as he could. " **Jump off!** Get out of here! **Now!** " Kronos' voice shifted from his own to Luke's erratically, as if the son of Hermes were fighting to get control to warn his fellow demigod and ally.

Percy submerged himself to avoid the brunt of the explosion. Beckendorf let out this massive burst like a supernova, completely vaporizing most of the monsters on board that didn't have some special requirement for their death like the drakons. The ship, despite its magical barrier, was also destroyed, and Kronos was sent flying into the city.

Percy's head breached the surface of the water in time to see the aftereffect, with a massive puff of black smoke. He took a deep breath and exhaled. He felt bad. It wasn't that he didn't feel anything about Beckendorf's sacrifice; he did.

Percy just didn't feel enough of anything, not even to shed a tear. Perhaps those months of preparation and mental steeling had paid off, but he didn't expect it to feel so…empty. Not to mention, that damn bombshell the son of Hephaestus dropped right before…

Without being called, Agro hovered above the water, waiting for Percy to get on. " _I'm…sorry for your loss, my master…"_ he said.

"Yeah…me too…"

" _I shall spread his name to all in the land. You have my word."_

Percy forced a smile, and patted the Pegasus' neck. "Thanks, Agro. Let's get back. I need to have a very important conversation."

xxxXXXxxx

Percy landed at the Greek encampment, to uproarious cheers upon the news that the mission was successful. Annabeth was the first to meet him. She had a somber look in her eyes. "…Well?"

"…Exactly as planned," Percy relayed, slipping off of Agro to let him scout around.

The daughter of Athena put a hand on Percy's shoulder in reassurance. "He's in Elysium," she claimed. "Now it's our job to make sure it wasn't in vain."

"Right. So…what's our plan now? We're not just gonna wait, I'm sure."

Annabeth crossed her arms. "Nothing you could help with, I'm afraid. We need to do some reconnaissance; we can't effectively plan around our enemy if we don't know where they are."

"Especially when they know what we had planned before," Percy muttered bitterly.

"What?" Annabeth didn't quite hear that.

"Nothing. Where's Silena, I need to-"

"Percy!"

" _Huh, speak of the devil,"_ Riptide said. The daughter of Aphrodite bounded up to the pair excitedly.

"I heard everything went great!" she exclaimed, trying to sound as cheery as possible. "But…where's Charlie?"

Percy took a deep breath. He tried so hard to wrap his head around the idea that it was Silena who'd been the traitor, but with her smile and her can-do attitude, it just didn't seem possible. No wonder he never suspected her.

"Silena, we need to talk," Percy said, his voice dangerously low in silent rage.

"O-oh, alright…privately?"

"If possible," Percy confirmed. Silena started toward a semi-secluded area. Annabeth stopped the son of Poseidon from following right away.

"Hey…show some tact, if you can," she suggested before pecking his cheek. She then returned to where the rest of the Athena cabin was huddled.

Percy met Silena, who by now was looking a bit nervous. "So, where's Charlie? I haven't seen him."

Percy didn't answer at first. He wasn't sure whether he should chew her out for her treachery, or break the bad news. This was just a bad situation all around. " _We just can't afford to have those thoughts clouding our judgement,"_ Percy recalled Annabeth's words, but even still…all of those years of friendship…

Percy reached into his back pocket and pulled out Beckendorf's letter, which was sealed with a forge symbol.

"From Charlie?" Silena's eyes lit up, and she reached for the letter. Percy pulled it away from her grasp. "W-what's wrong? Why are you-?"

"I deserve to know," Percy interrupted her.

"Know what?"

The son of Poseidon's eyes were cold, yet the aura he was letting off was white hot with fury. He was ready to burst if she made one wrong move. "I deserve to know…if you ever cared about us…about Beckendorf…"

Silena tried to act natural. "What are you-"

"He knew. Beck knew that you were a spy for Kronos since the beginning," he claimed. In a flash, Silena normal disposition disappeared, she was left with her instinctual fight-or-flight mentality. She stepped back, and made as much distance between herself and Percy. "Don't try and run."

"…P-Percy, I don't-"

"Don't play stupid!" he hissed, trying to keep himself from exploding. Silena reared back from the words. Almost as if her façade was shattered by Percy's brief outburst, tears began pouring down Silena's cheeks. Percy took a deep breath. He threw the letter to the ground at Silena's feet. "…You're not leaving this encampment anymore. You'll have a guard on you. You won't be fighting," he listed them off. Each restriction felt like a punch to the gut to the daughter of Aphrodite, who dropped to her knees, picking up the letter with an empty feeling in her heart. He turned around, ready to enact those restrictions on her.

"I…did care…" she muttered, just loud enough for him to hear. "I just…couldn't tell you…"

Percy shot her an over-the-shoulder glare which made her freeze. "Then you should've stopped."

"Shut up!" Silena cried, letting all of her pent-up emotions run loose. "You don't know the stress and agony I've felt! This was my home! Do you know how it felt to see it slowly crumble away every night? I do; it was what Kronos showed me! Do you know what it feels like to have the person closest to you dangled in front of your face like a puppet, used as leverage so you'll do what they want?"

Percy didn't find any sympathy for her words. "…Imagine being that puppet, and finding out what you've been this whole time," Percy shot back, making Silena shut her mouth. "You should've at least told Beck, so he didn't have to feel so betrayed…in the end…"

With that, Percy left Silena, who was staining the closed letter with her tears.

xxxXXXxxx

Percy was slammed against the wall, held up by his shirt. "What the _hell_ are you accusing Silena of?!" Clarisse growled, being understandably upset. "You think that just because you're the hero of the prophecy that you can say stupid shit and not have repercussions?!"

"I heard it from Beckendorf, before he died," Percy said, trying to remain calm. That news seemed to make the daughter of Ares relent, at least a bit.

"So what? He could've been wrong!"

" _He died because she betrayed us,"_ was what he was going to say, but he didn't want to add salt to the wound any more than he had to. "You and I both know that he's not. Looking back, it makes sense. She'd always go off by herself, right? She must've been relaying to Luke what we've been planning."

Clarisse crossed her arms. "…Well…everyone deserves a second chance," she claimed. Michael Yew put a hand on her shoulder.

"Try and look past your friendship, Claire," he said, pissing her off with the nickname. "This is straight-up treason. For all we know, she might've single-handedly doomed us all."

Clarisse shrugged off Yew's aid. "Piss off, short-stuff," she growled.

"Short?!" Yew laid into Clarisse, who hit back hard, and the two got into a minor scuffle.

"Enough!" Zoë broke them up. "Now, we need to begin preparing for who is doing recon."

"I vote a few kids from the Hermes cabin," Yew said. "They're light on their feet, and can get around quickly."

"Connor, Travis, thoughts?"

The two, having promised not to mess with camp during the battles, nodded. They seemed surprisingly serious. "We've got some guys," Connor said…or maybe it was Travis? Whatever. "I'll go let them know," one of them left.

"My Hunters will also go, at least a few," Zoë announced. "If things do not proceed as planned, you will need some covering fire."

"Good idea," Annabeth said. "I'll go too, see if I can identify any structural weak points in where they're stationed. I doubt they're taking very good care of it," everyone nodded. "If it's settled, then all we need to do is wait for the Pegasus riders to report in, so we have a rough idea of their loca-"

"Guys! Guys!"

"Speak of the devil," Annabeth turned to the young boy, who looked no older than fifteen. He seemed distressed, more so than most people. "You know where they are?"

The boy drew in a breath, but nodded. "W-we have a p-problem…"

"Don't we always?" Percy questioned. Clarisse elbowed him in the stomach.

"There's a big…thing, or…a lot of big things heading our way!"

"What do you mean 'big things'? You mean monsters?"

"W-we don't know; they were underwater, coming up the lower bay," he pointed toward the south. "We saw it passing the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Another hour and they'll all be past the Brooklyn Bridge too! The main enemy camp is on the Brooklyn side of the Williamsburg Bridge," he informed them.

Annabeth crossed her arms, getting into that adorable trance thing where she can't stop thinking. "They're probably trying to meet up there, then," she concluded. "We can't let that happen. If we can cut them off from their water forces, we'll be able to cripple them to an extent."

"Then what's the plan?" Percy questioned.

"Well, you're our best water guy. You think you can handle it?" she asked the question so casually.

"Oh sure, I'll just fight an army of water monsters on my own. _That'll_ work out."

"No, stupid, I meant can you lead the charge?"

"Of course," he gave her a thumbs-up.

"I'll go with you," Bianca piped up.

"No," Percy said immediately.

"But-"

"Someone needs to stay here in case of attack; you're the strongest demigod we've got," Percy assured her.

" _Other than you,"_ Riptide mentioned.

" _I wasn't gonna say that,"_ Percy thought defensively.

Percy expected her to be sad or disappointed, but of course, this was Bianca. "Whatever you say, chief! I guess 'flying solo' without a Big Three kid _does_ suit you well!"

"I will aid you," Zoë assured. "My chariot can get us there quickly."

"I'm taking some Apollo and Ares campers too. I'll try and beach as many monsters as I can; that'll be where you guys come in."

"So long as I get to stain my spear with monster blood, anything is good with me," Clarisse agreed.

With that, the group dispersed to prepare; both parties would leave within five minutes. Percy and Annabeth stayed behind with each other. "…I'll be fine," Annabeth assured him, knowing that he'd worry.

"…So will I," Percy returned. "…Actually, I can't promise that."

"No, you can't," she kissed him. "But that's okay, for the next few days."

With that, the two parted ways. Thalia was left in charge of the Hunters that were accompanying Annabeth and the Hermes kids to do recon, while Percy, Zoë, some Apollo campers and some Ares campers, including Clarisse, would go face whatever aquatic terrors lurked in the upper bay.

Percy was about to meet them for that mission, when a figure caught his eye. "You aren't supposed to be here, Ethan," he said. "I thought-"

"I've gotten out of worse cages than your basement, Percy," the son of Nemesis returned nonchalantly. "I saw what happened; watched the whole thing."

"You mean here, or…?"

"I mean on that damned yacht," he said. "And I'm, uh…sorry for your loss," it sounded like Ethan was tyring to give off something other than snark and comebacks, and it sounded weird. Percy was tempted to give him a scathing response, but at that moment, he wasn't feeling particularly combative.

"Yeah…me too…" was all he said.

Ethan clapped his hands rather loudly. "Well, a deal's a deal," he claimed. "My sword is yours to use as you see fit."

"…What are you talking-"

" _He said he'd join the Greeks again if you destroyed the Princess Andromeda,"_ Riptide recalled. Percy was always impressed at its recall ability, both in movie quotes and less important things like this.

"Oh…um…" Percy was still understandably confused and wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't even sure if he could trust Ethan at all, given his history.

"I understand if you're having trust issues," Ethan said, as if reading Percy's mind. "Which is why I'm electing to stay here and let you sit on the idea. Just know that I will die for your cause, as I would've for Kronos' before."

"You, uh…you sound like you've given this a lot of thought…" Percy said, even knowing that it didn't exactly apply to this situation; it was just all he could think to say. His brain was already in 'kill monsters' mode.

"Not really," Ethan said. "There's either honor in your words, or there isn't. I refuse to let my own be tainted."

" _Your honor or your words?"_ Riptide asked.

" _I think he means both."_

" _But that's too confusing…"_

"Well, Ethan, I can't say I'm not glad to have you fighting on the side of good," Percy said, shaking his hand. Ethan frowned when he said it, though. "W-what?"

"Nothing," he said. "But let me make it clear that I'm not helping because your side is 'good' and Kronos' is 'bad'," the two stared at each other for a moment before Ethan turned around. "I'll be eagerly awaiting your return."

And then he left Percy just as confused as ever, leaving him with only a single solid thought in his mind; he had a job to do, and he was going to go do it.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey all! So, fun times are ahead. Why? Because I hace the next five days off in a row, and I only have like three chapters left to write, so I'm going to make a big push to try and get this out. I've been keeping you guys waiting for far too long anyway.**

 **A couple things to note, however:**

 **This adaptation may seem both too similar and very different from the canon Last Olympian. The order of events will be odd and it will be mostly battles and not like other types of encounters, but, hey, it's a war. Also, some events that happened in the book will occur here, but many will occur that aren't in the book.**

 **I'm expecting the chapters to close out at...maybe 62 or 63? I haven't quite decided how to split up the final things. I just know that they're going to be super long and it's going to be a pain to sit down and write them, especially because I'm sick and have been steadily growing worse over the past three days.**

 **Other than that, uh...hurray for daily uploads again? Don't forget to review!**


	53. Wish You Luck In Your War

Bianca tried not to be alone when at camp, which usually meant bothering Winona, since she was in charge of the medical station. Though, her staying at camp wouldn't last long, as she would also be the main on-field cleric. She'd be doing a regular Hacksaw Ridge routine pretty soon, but the daughter of Apollo tried to make the most out of the situation.

Anyway, the reason Bianca didn't want to be alone was because she was being plagued with these annoying visions, as if they were waking dreams. Sometimes, when she wasn't actively focused on something for long enough, she'd have them anyway.

"Bianca," Winona got her attention. "Hey, what's with you? You've been acting really weird, and that's saying something for you."

"…I've been seeing things…" Bianca returned.

Winona zeroed in on Bianca. It was common knowledge that nine times out of ten, when a demigod has a premonition, it'll come true. "What kinds of things?"

"…I think…Winona, do you believe in destiny?"

The girl put a hand on her hip. "Quit yanking my chain, Firefly. We're Greek; of course we do."

"…Then at least a few of the leaders at camp are destined to die before this is over," she said solemnly. For once, she didn't try and put a positive spin on things. Of course, then she shrugged. "Oh well; they'll be getting a good deal when they die."

"Bianca!"

"What?" she didn't think anything was wrong with that statement. "They'll all go to Elysium, right?"

"So? They'll be _dead_!"

"So? Elysium is great!"

"Bianca," Winona shot the girl the most serious glare she could muster. "You _can't_ take death so lightly, or else everything we're doing is meaningless, you got that?"

" _Kinda hard when you've talked to so many dead people,"_ Bianca thought, but she refrained from saying it, for fear of Winona's wrath.

With the argument settled, Winona looked out towards the bay. "…Wonder how the others are doing…"

xxxXXXxxx

Connor and Travis led the way during the stealth mission. They made their way to the closest upper support to where the Titan Army had set up their base, where the Hunters came in and helped everyone up using their grappling hooks. "I think…I'll wait down here," Thalia said bashfully. Annabeth sighed quietly, and grabbed her hand, pulling her up.

"Just don't look down; look at me," the daughter of Athena offered. " _That role is usually reserved for her life-partner Zoë,"_ she imagined Riptide saying. " _Huh…I should try and erase that thing's influence from my mind. Clearly it has tainted me."_

Once they reached the top, the group made a temporary base. Thalia tried to keep her voice level. "Alright, keep your eyes out; monsters aren't limited to the ground. They'll have sentries, some very close."

"Come to think of it," Phoebe mentioned. "It's a good thing they didn't already have a sentry up here, right?"

"I doubt they have good enough eyesight," Connor claimed.

"Hm, wonder if they've ever tried glasses?" Travis added.

"Questions for later," they both agreed.

Thankfully, this gave them a great vantage point to survey the enemy camp. Annabeth brought out her binoculars and scanned it. It didn't take long to see a problem for the Olympians. "By the gods…"

"What?"

"So I may be delirious from low oxygen, but I'm seeing a force _way_ bigger than we prepared for," she said wearily. "At least three times as big as we thought it'd be."

"Does that include those that escaped the destruction of the Princess Andromeda?" Thalia inquired. Annabeth shook her head.

"Not sure; I'm not seeing anything approaching, but they could be weaving through alleys to avoid aerial detection."

"Damn…I wish monsters were still mindless," a Hunter complained. "Back when things were easier."

"In any case, let me jot down what I see, so we can-"

"Get down!" Thalia shoved Annabeth's head low to the ground, and everyone else dropped as well, as a flock of Stymphalian Birds passed close pay. After a moment, the sounds of their wings faded. Thalia cautiously scanned the skies, but saw nothing. She really wished she had focused more on her aerokinetic powers, to maybe feel out if anything was flying nearby, rather than her lightning-based ones, at least at a time like this. Perhaps if she'd had those seven years when she was stuck as a stupid tree, she'd feel more prepared.

"Are we good?" Annabeth questioned, eager to get this done and get out.

"Looks like it," Thalia said, as the group let out a silent sigh of relief. Annabeth took out her binoculars again, and peered over the edge, only to have a bird beak in her face. Annabeth stumbled back and yelled in surprise, as a group of three gryphons climbed up to the group, surrounding them. "Shit!" Thalia drew her spear. "Hunters, arrows at the ready!"

The orders came too late, as the gryphons (and those Stymphalian birds from earlier) commenced their attack, scratching and clawing uncontrollably. Thalia did was she could, and eventually formed enough energy to blast back their attackers momentarily. "We need to get out of here!" Travis exclaimed.

"I _know_ that!" Thalia said through gritted teeth, locked in combat with a deadly gryphon. Annabeth quickly recovered and tapped her bracelet, forming the Aegis shield on her arm, which warded off the gryphon long enough for Thalia to impale its heart and make it explode. "Everyone lock your hooks together and swing down! We must retreat!"

"But…if we do that, then someone has to stay up here and provide an anchor," one of the Hunters said.

"I'll do it," Thalia said, unconsciously trying to avoid jumping off herself; fear of heights and all.

"And I will too," Annabeth said, her Trident busy slashing up metal wings. "When you get down there, tie your hook to one of the support beams; we'll use that when you guys are down. Ready, break!"

In seconds, the Hunters' plan was ready, and they all clumped together, along with the campers, and jumped, with Thalia and Annabeth providing an anchor. In a miracle, the monsters were pushed back in such a way that it allowed the two to give maximum to support for their falling comrades. During the time it took for the Hunters to fall, Annabeth and Thalia had killed all of the monsters that had been attacking them at the top, albeit having suffered several cuts because of them.

They weren't out of the woods yet, though, as there was a whole horde of monsters from their camp that heard the commotion, and saw the group of Hunters falling from the sky like maniacs. They must've thought that they would've been easy kills to impress their commander, or perhaps they were just bored. Either way, the bridge was a non-option for Annabeth and Thalia.

Not only that, but Thalia looked to be shaking in her boots at the prospect of jumping from this high up. "Thalia, we need to go! Now!" Annabeth tightly gripped her shoulder, trying to snap her out of her stupor.

"I c-can't…"

"Listen to me," Annabeth forced Thalia to look at her. "You can do this," she assured the technically older girl. Thalia still shook her head.

"N-no, I can't," she repeated. "J-just…you go; I'll catch up."

"No, Thalia!" Annabeth insisted. "I'm not leaving without you! Look at me; if you stay up here, then I am going to die."

Annabeth will admit that it was a harsh thing to say to get her motivated, but at that moment, she didn't really have a choice; this was literally their lives that were on the line. In any case, it seemed to sober the Hunter up a bit, at least enough to get her to think straight.

Thalia nodded incessantly. "Oh gods, oh gods…oh gods…" she moaned as she stepped toward the edge. Annabeth looked down the tower and saw some monsters climbing up at an alarming rate. They'd be at the top any second. "Oh gods…" but Thalia definitely wasn't ready.

" _Sorry about this,"_ Annabeth thought, making sure the rope was tied around Thalia's wrist securely, before pushing the girl off, hanging onto her torso like her life depended on it…which it did. Thalia let out a scream so loud that she was surprised it didn't cause a visible shockwave of damage. Thankfully, the grappling hook ropes were magical, in that they changed elasticity as needed, making for a fairly smooth ride down.

The two swung far away from the bridge, as far as they could go and as low as they could go, before jumping off into the water. Again, thankfully, either Percy and Zoë were successful in warding off the aquatic monsters, or they hadn't made it to the camp yet at the very least.

Thalia was still so scared stiff that she could hardly keep herself afloat, so Annabeth had to help her keep her head above the water as she calmed down. "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" the daughter of Athena tried to act casual. She expected Thalia to curse at her or ignore her, but she nodded instead, and then pointed. When Annabeth looked to where she was pointing, she was a kind of distortion in the air, like the light was bending around the enormous pressure of whatever was going on over there, followed by a blinding flash of sea-green light exploding at the bay area. "…Percy…?" she wondered, and then thought that that would be ridiculous.

Soon, she realized that they were sitting ducks, and needed to get back to camp; while she didn't get a full analysis, Annabeth did jot down a good amount of info, and memorized much more. They began swimming back to Manhattan.

xxxXXXxxx

Percy and Zoë, along with Clarisse and a few others, arrived where that kid specified in record time, seeing several gigantic shadows beneath the waves. Percy wasn't sure if it was just because he had an affinity for water, or if that kid's vision was obscured by like clouds or panic or something, but Percy saw clearly that they had an army down there, with a massive shadow leading the charge.

"Oh, shit…" Percy cursed. "…I think we're gonna-"

"Do _not_ make a 'Jaws' reference," Zoë warned.

" _How do you even know what that is?"_ Riptide wondered.

"I am taking us lower. You need to do what you can to ward them away, and-"

"Uh, guys," Clarisse pointed to the horizon.

"Not now; we've got some big problems to deal with here. I don't know if I can even-" Percy tried to ignore her.

"Hey!" Clarisse shouted. Percy finally looked at where he was pointing and saw a glowing sea green light on the horizon, growing bigger, and radiating with power in a way all too familiar to Percy.

"Oh gods…" it suddenly dawned on Percy what was coming their way. "Everyone fly up!" he yelled, even as he leapt off of Artemis' chariot and into the sea. Once underwater, he saw clearly this huge army of aquatic creatures which would surely eat Percy alive should they be given the chance; far too many to name or count. It at least doubled the size of Kronos' ground forces, according to Zoë.

Percy saw the glowing light even more clearly underwater, because that's where it was located as well; the energy the object released was just so intense as to be visible above water from that far away. " _Hey! It's your old man!"_ Riptide acted like this was a usual occurrence.

" _Yes, Riptide; I noticed!"_ Percy returned. The power of Poseidon's Trident, which had been thrown directly at both Percy and, in turn, the monsters between him and it, and at a much faster speed than when Percy barely managed to block it. " _Damn it, why now?!"_ he screamed in his head, gathering power within himself to try and stop the attack. However, before the trident reached either the monsters or Percy, it veered off, running parallel to the bulk of the monster horde, and then swiped across Percy's vision. It took a moment for the actual attack to catch up to the trident, as it passed by in a literal flash, but when it did…just wow.

It was as if the water around the monsters instantly turned against them, shredding them up and catching them in whirlpools of razor-sharp currents, with most of them exploding into dust immediately. Just the energy of the trident was enough to stop the biggest monsters in their tracks and make them explode.

It took all Percy had to stop the waves that were created from the attack, as they could've done serious damage upriver. Percy couldn't even process what had happened until Poseidon himself actually showed up.

"And _that_ is why I didn't throw my trident at you with my full-power," he said as he appeared.

"I never asked for your help," Percy lowered his eyes into a scowl. "This is _my_ fight."

"Without my help, you would've lost 'your fight'. I'm sure the goddess of the hunt would agree," the sea god retorted.

"…Why even come?"

"Because it suited my interests; those beasts had been harassing my servants since they reformed at Kronos' will. It was only natural that I eliminate them here, when they'd all foolishly grouped up."

"So you used me, again."

"You had nothing to do with it; I would've eradicated them whether you came or not," Poseidon said. "Though, since you _did_ come, I left one for you," he pointed behind him, where Percy saw a massive form. "Slower than the others; couldn't catch it in the blast."

"And let me guess; you're too tired to throw again?"

"No," Poseidon wasn't kidding. "But if I'm to defeat Oceanus, whose forces gather as we speak, then I will need all I can muster."

"…And after that?"

"After that, my part is done," he claimed.

"What about Typhon?"

"What _about_ Typhon? He is my brother's problem, not mine," Poseidon said.

"So? He's your family."

"And there's a reason I don't associate with him unless necessary. I do not need a lecture from a mortal."

"Okay, fine. Then let me offer an idea," Percy said. "Push that thing back, will you?"

Poseidon held his hand out, and blasted the remaining monster back enough to where they could continue speaking for a brief moment.

"If you help Zeus defeat Typhon, he'll owe you big time."

"I realize this. There is nothing he has that I desire."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Dude, you guys are gods; you think there won't be sometime in your immortal lives that he'll have something that you don't?"

Poseidon blinked; he'd never been referred to as 'dude' before. "I…" he shook his head. "I'll take it under advisement. For now, I wish you luck in your war. Farewell."

It was Percy's turn to act confused as Poseidon disappeared, even with a gigantic serpentine shark/whale thing was making its way toward him. "…He's never acted that nice toward me before," he muttered.

" _Yeah, it's almost like he likes you or something,"_ Riptide sounded equally bewildered. " _Nah, that can't be it; he's probably drunk or something."_

Percy chose to accept that answer (ignoring the fact that gods couldn't get intoxicated without a particularly strong, godly drink), and faced the matter at hand. The monster was right up on him at this point, and he was immediately forced to react. He did so by blasting the creature back, and then forcing the water for push it above water, letting whoever was above to pelt it was arrows and javelins.

What Percy didn't expect was having the creature writhe out of his water, to slam down onto him, shooting him to the floor of the body of water. The impact, even while Percy was empowered by the river, was breathtaking, and he didn't get the chance to recover either.

Whatever it was, the monster shot down into the ground, teeth first. Percy just barely avoided their razor-sharp edge, and shot through the water to the surface, shooting himself up and landing on the ground. When he landed, Percy felt the pressure of the blow in his chest, still resonating.

"What was that light?" Clarisse demanded. "Another enemy?"

"Forget that; what the hell is that thing?" Percy said, looking to Zoë for an answer.

"It looks like a Cetus."

"Gesundheit," Percy said.

"It is a lesser-known monster, but it is _not_ to be underestimated. It may not have the regrowing heads of the Hydra or the stone-gaze of Medusa, but that does not mean it is not dangerous," she expounded. "What it lacks in gimmicks, it makes up for in raw power; kind of like Atlas…and Polybotes, now that I think about it. He might even be stronger than Zeus or Poseidon…" she got distracted. "Well, no use worrying about the Sleeping Giants."

"Can we get back on topic, please?" Percy requested, seeing the shadow of the Cetus drawing toward the shore where the camper team was located.

"Why? It's a sea monster," Clarisse said. "We have a plan; you lift it up, and we kill it while it's-"

She was interrupted, the Cetus breached out of the river, and then lifted itself onto the shore…with its legs…and arms…

"Oh, I forgot to mention that it can change its appearance," Zoë said.

"Scatter!" Percy yelled as the Cetus lifted its foot and slammed it down where they were conversing. The ground beneath its foot cracked under the weight, threatening to give into whatever sewer system happened to be under this area. The Ares and Apollo kids unloaded everything they could, with the Ares cabin charging directly and trying to topple the beast, while the Apollo cabin bombarded it with arrows. Neither strategy worked; the creature's hide was too thick.

Zoë, meanwhile, attempted to get to higher ground, to be able to shoot where it might be more vulnerable, it's face. Percy and Clarisse had the same idea, but with the opposite approach, they headed toward its backside to try and sever some fins to limit its mobility, should they push it back into the water.

Thankfully, the cabins did accomplish the task of drawing its attention, with the Cetus trying to squash and swipe at the campers; thankfully, their training had given them enough stamina and speed to avoid its attacks.

Once around the backside of the monster, Percy propelled himself up onto its hide, managing to hang on, before reaching back and pulling Clarisse up with her Maimer spear, which could channel electricity. "Hey, I've got an idea," Percy said as they climbed up a bit further.

"Oh, of course you do," she growled, both of them straining to hang on with its writhing in trying to kill the campers. "Is it stupid?"

"Very," the son of Poseidon claimed.

Clarisse grinned, getting pumped with adrenaline. "Good, let's do it."

If there was one thing to say about why Percy and Clarisse could tolerate each other, it would be their equal sense of insanity in trying out ideas to win. Well, that, and they both gloated when they beat the other with their respective main weapons, sword and spear respectively.

"Just have your spear aimed at the thing and charged; I'll do the rest," Percy said, summoning water in his hand and shooting it around Clarisse's waist like a rope. "Oh, and brace yourself; we kind of need you later."

"As if I'd-" she didn't get to finish, as Percy leapt off the monster's back with as much force as he could muster, before tugging on the water rope, pulling Clarisse with him. He swung her around in the circle, before letting go and sending her flying toward the Cetus' back. The creature was still distracted by the campers.

With the force of the impact and the added power of electricity, the Cetus wasn't having a very good day. The force alone was enough to knock it clean over, with the campers avoiding the fall of course, and it made a giant hole in its back, revealing its vulnerable fleshy mass beneath the hide.

"Attack!" Clarisse ordered as soon as she landed, not wanting to waste the opportunity. The Apollo campers let off a volley of arrows into the exposed flesh, which made the beast stir, while the Ares campers leapt onto its back and repeatedly stabbed it with their spears and slashed it with their swords. This got it up and moving again.

Within a few seconds, the Cetus was back on its feet and pissed the hell off. Now, it went straight for Clarisse, as she was the one who injured it…well, technically it was Percy, but it didn't know that. "Uh oh," it quickly dawned on the daughter of Ares that she was its main target now, and turned tail.

"Wolf!" Percy heard from higher up. It was Zoë, standing on top of a four-story building.

"How the hell did she get up there?"

" _Is she talking to you?"_ Riptide wondered.

"Uh…yeah?" he called out to test that question. It appeared that the sword was correct.

"Draw the beast towards me!" she called down to him.

"On it!" Percy agreed without hesitation. "Clarisse!" she glanced back to see him pointing to the building that Zoë was on. She seemed to understand, and veered off, trying to outpace the Cetus.

Unfortunately, the thing was as tall as the building that Zoë was standing on, so it was understandably faster. Percy did what he could to slow it down, but the creature eventually caught up. Clarisse dove out of the way of one stomp, but that left her vulnerable for another.

This was when Zoë made her play, letting loose a blinding spray of arrows, shooting its stomach, then its chest, then its head, to test their vulnerability, and one of the arrows that shot its face went straight into its eye.

While the volley didn't seem to do much damage, it was enough to daze the beast, make it rear back. "Clarisse, again!" Percy said, not taking no for an answer, wrapping his water rope thing around the girl and swinging her into the beast's chest this time.

The broken-off part was smaller this time, not even two feet wide, but it was something. The impact wasn't enough to knock it over either, though it did writhe in pain for a while.

Zoë leapt down from her perch, seeing that her arrows didn't do jack against its thicker stomach and chest. "Well, ranged attacks seem ineffectual," she noted.

"Even from your moonlight arrows," Percy commented. Zoë nodded, and snapped her bow a bit. The motion caused the bowstring to retract into the bow itself, and caused it to form a sharp edge, like a blade.

"I normally do not prefer the direct approach, but perhaps it is necessary in this instance," she said. Percy stared at her new weapon.

"… _What?"_ Riptide wondered.

" _Nothing,"_ Percy returned.

" _What?"_ the sword repeated.

" _It's just…why can't you turn into something cool?"_

" _Hey, a pen is much more practical in everyday life than whatever else I could be."_

" _Excuses,"_ Percy returned.

"Now isn't the time for banter," Zoë claimed. "I have a plan. It's going to take all of us. Draw it back towards the river."

With that, the creature appeared to recover enough to attack, despite still having the arrow lodged in its eye socket. The campers scattered around its stomping and swiping, and ran behind it, dashing back toward the water. The creature quickly turned and gave chase. As it was about to stomp on some Apollo campers, Percy turned back and blasted the thing with everything he had to stun it long enough for the campers to flee.

Soon enough, the campers made it to the river, but Zoë kept going, diving into the river. Percy followed, and so did most of the campers. The Cetus followed closely, with Zoë keeping its razor-sharp teeth away from the campers.

" _Hey, she wants you to restrain it,"_ Riptide claimed.

" _What? How do you know?"_

" _I got a feeling,"_ it returned, and then started singing. " _That tonight's gonna be a good night."_

" _You're insufferable,"_ Percy thought in response. He willed the water to push both him and the Cetus to the surface, where Percy stood on it, allowing the other campers to do so temporarily as well. "Hey! You big bastard!" he yelled at the monster. As the creature turned to him, he shot two whips to lash onto its wrists. The Cetus didn't take kindly to that, violently swinging around its arms and whipping Percy back and forth through the air.

The other campers soon caught on, and used whatever they could to help. Clarisse and a few other Ares campers latched onto Percy as he was swung behind the monster, while some Apollo campers used specially made rope arrows (they took a page out of the Hunters' book when designing new arrow types) to further restrain the beast, all while Zoë was underwater, mentally preparing herself and waiting for the perfect opportunity.

" _Poseidon grant me swiftness…Zeus grant me strength,"_ she prayed, seeing the monster rear back, momentarily exposing the soft spot on its chest. She took her chance, and it felt like the waves were propelling her upward like a torpedo. She wasn't sure if it was Percy's doing (she doubted it, given how he was a bit busy at the time) or Poseidon, but either way, she went with it.

She breached the surface, flying high into the air from the momentum, at the perfect angle to nail the bastard, even if it wouldn't be enough to kill it. Just then, however, a lightning bolt struck down onto Zoë. Instead of harming her, however, it cloaked her bow-blade with the aura of Zeus, adding to its strength as she drove it into the Cetus' fleshy chest wound. The force caused a ripple through the air, and was enough to make the monster explode into dust, with Zoë falling through where it was, her momentum acting as if nothing was there in the first place.

She landed on the shore, where she met with the campers. Most were staring at her in awe. Percy wasn't one of them. "You know, I really wish they wouldn't help us. We don't need it," he commented, noting how Zeus' aided their battle at the end. "It's insulting."

Zoë frowned as the others started making their way back to the base camp, satisfied with a job well-done. " _You_ should be thankful," she retorted. "Do you have any idea how preoccupied the gods are at this very moment."

"I know; they're stopping Typhon. They did it once, and they'll do it again," Percy returned.

"Yes, and it requires all of their strength. They did not have to help, and some of your campers might have perished if they hadn't."

"I wouldn't let that happen," the son of Poseidon claimed, pushing past the Huntress. "I _can't_ let that happen."

Zoë stopped momentarily, seeing a kind of unyielding determination in the boy's step which…unnerved her. It was the same thing she saw in young Annabeth when she had dismissed the possibility of turning Luke back to the side of the gods. No, it wasn't determination…it was desperation.

"You had best stop thinking yourself a god, Perseus Jackson," Zoë called after him.

Percy stopped at that. She was expecting him to question her, to ask her to elaborate or to gloat or try and reason with himself. Instead, he turned back to her with a dangerous look in his eye. This was no longer desperation either, but a quiet rage. "Don't even _think_ about comparing me to the gods."

To Percy, he felt that he usually kept this kind of feeling hidden away, locked up tight to give a stalwart attitude toward any and all opponents he may come across. He wouldn't even show this raw of a reaction to his father, except for that one instance after the original Artemis died, who even knew Percy's true feelings toward the Greek deities. But here, when he knew these emotions weren't observed to be manipulated, he wasn't afraid to show them, to make sure he wouldn't have to in a more dire circumstance.

Zoë wasn't intimidated by this obvious threat, though, only saddened. It was a shame he didn't channel this raw emotion into something useful. Perhaps a hard lesson was needed, one Zoë couldn't provide. She might have said something to cool him off, but he walked away, leaving her to ponder what she should do.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey all! Extra battle hype! Why don't you guys let me know what you think in a review?**

 **Oh, and if you aren't exactly feeling Percy's new mindset...just stick with me for a few more chapters. Anyway, thanks so much for reading and tune in tomorrow for chapter 54!**


	54. It'd Almost Be Ironic

The two groups didn't return at the same time, with Percy and Zoë's group arriving much later than Annabeth's. By the time they did, they were already planning. They arrived so late that Annabeth was already up to speed with Ethan's whole deal, and was busy going over what they both knew.

"We took care of their aquatic forces," Percy announced as he and the other leaders from his team entered the planning tent. "How did the mission go for-" he saw both Annabeth and Thalia covered in bandages, all of along their arms at least. "Stymphalian Birds?" he guessed, going over to Annabeth.

"Stymphalian Birds," Annabeth confirmed. Percy opened his mouth. "We already ate some ambrosia and nectar," she said. "Now, we need to focus."

"Right," Percy said. "What have we got?"

"An army; three times bigger, by my estimate, than we anticipated. Now, this is bad, like really bad, but it's not a deal breaker. Most of the army is Scythian Dracanae; foot soldiers. As long as we're alert, that means that well over half their army is basically fodder."

"Weight off my mind. What else?"

"They're located on the opposite side of the Williamsburg Bridge, with a large entrance at the bridge to allow easy exit to attack us."

"Or entry, for us to attack," Clarisse offered.

"Not possible," Annabeth claimed. "They've got sentries patrolling everywhere but the skies, and we don't have nearly enough trained Pegasus riders to attempt an assault from the air."

"Then if a direct assault was impossible, what about an indirect one?" Thalia brought up. "Percy can allow anyone he wants to stand on the surface of the river, allowing us another entrance or path up to it at least. The Hephaestus cabin could set us up with smoke bombs or arrows to shroud our assault, and it could pass off as a foggy evening."

"So the Hunters would take out the sentries," Percy clarified. "Leaving a main force to attack?"

Everyone looked to Annabeth; she was their tactician, so the final call was hers. "…I don't know…I still don't think we'd have enough manpower."

"But this is what we've been training for, Brighteyes," Percy argued. "Why would we have worked ourselves to death if we weren't going to be aggressive with our powers?"

"You forget your place, wolf," Zoë stepped forward. "The demigods' only responsibility is to defend Olympus, correct? What is the point of going on the offensive?"

"So that we can fight on our terms," Percy answered immediately. "They could be planning something as we speak; we should strike before they get a chance to cripple us and cost us lives."

"But if we were to focus our efforts on strategic defense rather than foolish offense, the risk of casualty would be greatly reduced. Did you not hear the daughter of Athena; Kronos' Army is triple of what you have prepared for."

"Of foot soldiers," Percy returned. "I could fight a thousand of them without breaking a sweat," he boasted.

Zoë lowered her eyes into a scowl, her features gaining a new edge to them. " _There he goes again, stepping out of reality and into his fantasy,_ " she thought. Zoë took a deep breath, and raised her hands. "As you wish," she relented. "However, you will not have the aid of the Hunters of Artemis in this suicide mission."

Percy looked about to riposte, but the statement left him momentarily stunned. It was likely that he hadn't even considered the fact that Zoë's aid was voluntary. Part of her wanted to see him squirm and have to retract his boast and plan, but the other part was proud. She saw his wheels turning, quickly readjusting, using his fast-thinking ADHD mind, his ideal paradigm to exclude the Hunters in the plan. It was this trait, among others, that kept Zoë from just vaporizing the boy for his arrogance and insolence.

The scary part about it, though, was that if he did survive this war, then the gods couldn't ever justify killing him, as they would be, literally, forever in his debt, which he could lord over them until the day he died…and then Hades would give him eternal punishment for messing with the gods, but still.

Once Percy thought it through, he set his jaw, and nodded. "Fine, we'll make due," he said; a typical Percy-ish response. It wasn't apologetic nor was it insulting, just accepting. "Then we replace the Hunters with Apollo campers, and other skilled bowmen."

As the planning continued, Silena peered into the room. Percy had been so preoccupied with planning and the war, that he completely forgot about her guard or the fact that she was even there.

"As our main force, we have our regular heavies; Ares cabin, Percy, Athena cabin. Once Apollo has taken out the guards, they'll rally up at the back of the bridge to provide covering fire, in case we need to regroup. We'll bring three other cabins; Hermes, Hephaestus, and Demeter," Annabeth continued.

"I'm with you too; the monster use visual signals rather than verbal when they change tactics, and I know them," Ethan claimed.

Annabeth nodded before espousing more of her plan. "We'll need a few combat medics; hopefully nothing major, but it's better to be safe than sorry. For those staying: Aphrodite on watch duty, a few Apollo healers to tend to the wounded still here, Bianca, to protect camp, Dionysus, and the first-years to aid in protecting it should it be attacked."

"You sure?" Bianca asked. "I mean…you're already down one Big Three kid," she said, noting Thalia not objecting to being left out. "And we're talking about a Titan."

"Prometheus is the weakest physically," Annabeth reasoned. "But the smartest, hence why Kronos chose him to coordinate and lead his assault on Olympus."

"Just…be careful, then," Bianca didn't try and put a positive spin on this; even she could see how bold and risky of a move this was.

"Do you have a tactic in mind?"

Annabeth crossed her arms in thought. "The phalanx is an option; we could have at least the Ares or Athena cabin use it to form a barrier between the enemy and our medics. The problem is that we'll be heavily outnumbered; they'd flank us easily unless we spanned the entire bridge."

"Then we might be spread too thin," Percy agreed. "We could have a group of heavy hitters to ward off enemies who would try to flank."

"That would be my cabin," Clarisse pointed at herself indignantly. "My brothers and sisters are trained and ready to spill monster blood."

"Then that's what we'll go with. Is everyone ready?"

"What?" Silena finally spoke, causing those who didn't notice her to jump. "You're going to try and attack them?" saying the words visibly shook the girl. "That's…not a good idea."

"Why not?" Clarisse questioned.

"We could take 'em," Michael boasted.

"N-no, you don't understand," she said. "W-we can't fight them; we'll barely survive defending as it is!"

Annabeth tried to be cordial, giving a reassuring smile. "Silena, I understand your doubts, but we've been working so hard for this. We're-"

"I don't understand them," Percy said, clearly still bitter. "You're a traitor; what did you ever care about us for?"

"Can it, Spider," Clarisse warned through clenched teeth. "If she's got something to say, then-"

"I don't _care_ if she's got something to say," Percy interrupted. "She betrayed us, Clarisse; what don't you get about that? She doesn't care about us and never has!"

Annabeth was almost shocked to hear those words come out of his mouth about the daughter of Aphrodite. "Percy…" she wasn't even sure what to say.

An argument arose, with Silena being powerless to stop it, as one side would've shut down anything she'd said. She wished, in moments like these, that she could've had her mother's charm, to calm them down. But she didn't; she had to make do with what she had, which was nothing to help this situation.

"How do you know she never cared about us?" Clarisse questioned. "After she helped you, helped all of us; how can you even say that?"

"Why are you being so harsh to her, man?" Travis questioned.

"It's called new information; look into it sometime. If something else comes up that proves me wrong, so be it. But right now, I don't have the goddamn time to mince words. Here are the facts: she's a traitor who gave out our plans and growth to the enemy, for years. And now she's expecting us to trust her on this. I can't afford to do that. For all we know, she's trying to stall us here so Kronos and his army can ambush us."

"And there's another out-of-nowhere accusation!" Clarisse claimed.

"Guys, stop!" Annabeth snapped, getting their attention. "Let's stop arguing like children when we're literally at war," she pleaded, getting the two to momentarily stop biting at each other. "We need to go on the offensive; pressure them to play by our rules. I also know we need to save as many lives as possible; the goal is no one dies. Are we all at least in agreement on that?" she questioned, to hear murmurs of agreement come from the group. "I agree with Percy that attacking, in this case, is the best way to defend ourselves."

"But you-"

"And you," Annabeth turned to Silena. The two haven't interacted much in the past, but Annabeth always saw the girl as a bit of an authority figure, due to her brutal cabin inspections and other various bossy things she did. Now, though, she felt no such presence coming from the daughter of the love goddess. "You hold no sway over this decision; your views were rendered void after you were discovered."

Silena bit her lip, feeling intimidated by the many threatening eyes directed toward her. Still, she stood her ground. "But you don't understand! They have a leader; Prometheus is there! You guys can't fight against a Titan."

"We've done it once," Thalia said, referring to the battle of against Atlas.

"Twice," Bianca added, referring to Iapetus.

"Three times," Zoë continued, referring to her bout against Kronos.

"Four," Percy finished, referring to his own small skirmish with the Titan Lord.

"And how many times have you been successful? You might have gotten lucky against the Piercer, but you won't have a pit of Tartarus to help you this time. When are you going to stop beating your heads against a brick wall?"

"We've grown since our earlier encounters," Thalia claimed. "We can take them now."

Silena couldn't believe what she was hearing. They were all marching to their deaths in some fool's hope. She stood in front of the door and spread her arms out to block them. "I won't let you! I won't let all of my friends be killed!" she cried defiantly.

Percy stepped up to Silena, standing a good six inches taller than her. Annabeth had a feeling of what he would say, and it would only ruin what little friendship they might have had left. "You're scared," he said, sounding a bit more forgiving than Annabeth had expected. "Trust me, I get it. The fact is that we've overcome our fear, through work, through each other, while you seem incapable of looking past it. Did you ever think that if you were honest, then maybe things would've been better? We could've planned better, we could've prepared more. Maybe if you'd have come clean, there could been another way to destroy the Princess Andromeda," he held no more sympathy, or the impression of it. This was pure bitterness and anger. "No, you didn't think that. You never came clean, and now Beckendorf is dead, now we're about to go on a 'suicide mission' as Zoë put it. Now, you don't get to help us, because nothing you say or do matters anymore. Your help came too late to save anyone. Now, we march to victory, to win this war against _all odds_."

"Y-you…" her voice was but a whimper now.

"Stand aside, or so help me, I'll strike you down," Percy threatened. Silena's arms were shaking as she dropped them to her sides and stepped out of the way, her head hanging low. Percy turned around to the others.

"Come on; we need to move fast or we might lose our chance."

With that, he took his leave to round everyone up to launch their assault. Slowly, the others followed him, with most only taking a cursory glance at Silena, who wouldn't dare meet any of their gazes. Clarisse gave her a hug, and Annabeth put a hand on her shoulder, but no one else did anything to comfort her.

In only a matter of minutes, the group of seventy-ish campers took off, and Silena was left feeling ridiculed, betrayed, and…empty. The latter was the worst feeling; she should be feeling more than she did, more than just a slight melancholy at seeing them go. Had she allowed herself to write them off so easily? Did she truly believe they would all perish, and if so, if Charlie was dead already, then why did she stay?

She took out the unopened letter from Charlie. She chose not to read it; she didn't feel like she deserved to know his final thoughts, but now…she needed it. It wasn't that she needed to feel more guilt…or maybe it was. She definitely deserved to feel like shit for what she did; she acknowledged that.

She found a secluded space; Percy still hadn't attached a guard detail to her, though her cabinmates, now fully under the influence of Drew Tanaka, was keeping an eye on her with their watch duty. She slowly removed the seal and opened the letter.

Silena didn't really know what she was expecting to find, but what was inside was just a folded up piece of paper with a simple letter, written in simple black ink. Somehow, she imagined that Charlie would've found something a bit more creative to use. Silena smiled lightly, despite herself. " _Maybe if he didn't have the fatal flaw of his kin…excessive sense of betrayal; it'd almost be ironic, if it wasn't so…"_ she was thinking 'pathetic'.

Even as Silena thought it, she knew it was wrong to assume that it was his fault. This was why she didn't deserve to know; she never assumed that she was at fault. It was her own fatal flaw; excessive blame, but could she really help it?

" _Yes, you can,"_ she told herself, making her frown, even before reading the letter. She didn't want to think like that, to take that kind of responsibility. It was Luke's fault, all of this. Charlie wouldn't be dead if-

" _If you hadn't kept everything a secret for so long,"_ she thought. Silena bit her lip, trying to ward off those thoughts; she _couldn't_ blame herself, or else she would fall apart right there. It was this kind of mental battle that had been ongoing for years now, since the winter of Artemis' fall, when Luke first started using Charlie as leverage. Well, when Silena needed that kind of "persuasion" to give him what he wanted.

Finally, to rid herself of these thoughts, she read Charlie's letter.

"Silena,

Let me say one thing; I know you've been spying on us for Kronos…or well, I guess the more apt thing to say is 'for Luke', right? It's not secret that you crushed on him, and, well, being a love daughter, it's not surprising that you did something bad for the sake of that childish fantasy. If you're wondering, I've known for a while, since shortly after the Labyrinth quest was completed. I tried to ask you about it, but there was never a time nor a place, so…that was out.

I realize this may come off as a bit impersonal, but…this is just how I think, you know? In the mechanics, in the numbers."

Silena let out a small laugh, the sudden emotion causing tears to drip onto the letter. "Yes, Charlie, I've known that since we were children."

"I've tried to be a good boyfriend, but…we were both pretty stand-offish towards our personal lives, so I don't exactly know why you did what you did. But I know you well enough to know that you're not a bad person. You care about us, about all of camp, just a strongly as when you were wholly on our side; I have faith that that's the truth. I don't agree with what you did; I never can. In all likelihood, you doomed a lot of my family, which is unacceptable. That's why it's so weird to say this, but uh…I can look past that. I still love you, Silena Beauregard. And if you can live to fight another day, to atone for your mistakes, then I'll gladly lay down my life in your name. Who knows; maybe you'll save more lives than what was sacrificed…somehow. But that's gonna be on you. And now, I suppose that…this is goodbye…

I love you,

Charlie"

By the time Silena had finished reading, her sight was almost fully clouded with tears. She curled up into a ball, holding the letter close to her out, as she let out anguished sobs. " _Everything I did…was for you…"_ she thought, finally feeling something, even if it was an unending sadness.

 **Author's Note:**

 **So I hate to say it, but I may or may not be able to keep up the daily uploads. I'll at least get to chapter 58, but I'm feeling like absolute garbage right now and I don't expect it to get better tomorrow or even the day after that. Hopefully I'm wrong, and I'll attempt to keep writing through this, but I'm not expecting to be very productive on my five days off from work as I was expecting.**

 **Anyway, this chapter was a bit short, but don't worry about that; it's still a decent length anyway. Please, if you could, leave a review and let me know what you thought! Oh and, I guess an emotional moment happened right at the end. I think I would care more if I didn't know where the story was going, but I do, because I'm writing it. And the trainwreck hasn't even started yet.**

 **Be prepared for some heavy stuff next time.**


	55. All According To Plan

The march to the battle was quiet; everyone was far too tense to converse except on very simple terms. That itself was unnerving, that they were so unlike themselves from stress and tension.

Percy and Annabeth led the way, a small length ahead of everyone, to where they could quietly speak without being heard, not that anything they were saying was taboo. "You'll be in charge of organizing the main force; I'll have to be with the archers to allow them passage over the water," Percy began.

"Alright; do you have a signal in mind for when I should launch?" she wondered.

"Well, after we take out the sentries, I can order a volley to thin their numbers; that'll be the signal," Annabeth nodded. "Then, you can form up and attack."

Annabeth distinctly noticed his use of the word 'you' and not 'we'. "You're probably going to forget the plan," Annabeth claimed. "Or ignore it."

"Someone has to keep Prometheus occupied, or he'll plow through our formation."

"So you're ignoring it," she surmised. "Fine, but I'm going with you."

"No, you aren't," Percy argued. "You'll be with-"

"I'll be damned if I have to watch you fight alone against something like that again," she interrupted, having a steely gaze straight ahead as she said it, before turning to Percy. "And you don't _get_ to decide what I do, hero."

Percy, despite the circumstances, smiled at that. "This is why I love you, Brighteyes."

She smirked, feeling satisfied with that. "You're damn right," she faced forward ahead and collected her thoughts a bit. Annabeth took a deep breath, and inwardly acknowledged the fact that this may very well be the last battle she ever fights in. She needed to tell Percy something. "…I think you were wrong to snap at Silena like that."

"Hm? Why?" Percy sounded confused, which was better than him exploding on her as well. "You're the one that said we can't afford to have the feeling of mercy or sympathy for our enemies."

"Except I'm not so sure that she's an enemy," the daughter of Athena said.

"What do you mean? She-"

"I know what she did; I know more than you, in fact. When…well, last year, when Minos and Daedalus attacked camp, Silena and I were alone. It was…because of her attacking them that I was able to hold them off long enough for you to get there. Otherwise, we might've all been slaughtered before you arrived."

Percy considered this. "She probably realized she wouldn't be killed for just that. That doesn't change that she betrayed us."

"Giving information, probably through blackmail, is one thing, Percy, but completely changing sides is another. If she was truly an enemy, then she'd have left camp by now, and she would've let us attack freely, without helping us."

Percy considered this. "…I still don't buy it," he said.

"That's fine," she returned. "I just…wanted to say that."

Percy nodded. "Well, thanks, I guess," he said. "But…if you're willing to feel that way about Silena, then what about Luke?" Annabeth frowned. "He's helped us before, right? Sort of, anyway."

"Percy, we've gone over this," she said. "He's gone too far," she claimed, recalling his repeated refusals to return to the Olympians. "There's no reasoning with him, especially with Kronos in control of his body."

" _Where would you draw the line between 'salvageable' and 'too far', then?"_ Percy wanted to ask, though he knew it would make her mad. "…You don't have enough faith in him, I think," he said instead. "…This might sound crazy, but when the yacht was about to blow, I think it was partially Luke trying to save those that were on it."

This gave Annabeth a faint glimmer of hope. It wasn't unlike how he was before camp, back when they were on the streets. Annabeth quickly shook away that hope; it belonged to but a fool. "…He probably wanted to conserve his resources."

"Give me a break," Percy said. "You don't really think that; you can't."

"I have to," she said, biting her lip to keep from quivering. She hated feeling so weak at the thought of him; it was all she could do to keep her mind off of it. Eventually, though, the feeling was going to overcome her. "Percy…I haven't been entirely honest with you…about some things…"

Percy frowned; this was usually bad. In fact, yes, it was always bad. "About…us? Annabeth, now's really not-"

"No, not about us. About Luke…about me, Thalia, and him on the streets…" she stopped. This wasn't to be told now; it would weigh too heavily on Percy's mind if she told him about this. If she went through with it, then he might be indecisive in whatever happens to be the final battle, and it may cost Percy his life.

It's a good thing they reached their destination at that point. Percy put a hand up to stop those behind them; any closer and they'd be seen by Kronos' army. "Okay guys, we know the plan," Percy said, directing Hephaestus bombers and Apollo archers to either side, before following them. Annabeth didn't even get a chance to say goodbye after that.

Allowing every one of his allies to walk on the water, Percy led the stealth team to the underside of the bridge, where the Hephaestus campers regularly put to smoke grenades to cloud them from sight. Apparently, this smoke was even capable of blocking the vision of monsters even through the Mist, and was see through if you were inside its cloud; the children of Hephaestus were absolutely incredible, all of them.

Once they were close enough, Percy gestured for them to draw their arrows, each aiming at a different sentry. Then, the arrows were let off. Waiting to see if they would connect and kill the monsters was the worst part; it took up to two and a half seconds for the farthest sentry, and the wait felt like three years.

Percy could let out his held breath, however, since all of the sentries were downed silently. Only a few of the others noticed, and by the time they were ready to confirm or call it out, the Apollo campers had already knocked another volley of arrows; this would be the start.

"Fire!" Percy yelled, sending a bit more confusion into Kronos' army as they had no idea what was happening before about twenty of them were killed by a wave of arrows.

Annabeth heard the signal and saw a glimpse of the arrows. Once she did, she called out for her forces to form up on the western side of the bridge. The enemy had already gathered at the other side by the time the campers were ready, and Prometheus was waiting at the front.

The Titan looked confident, and Annabeth couldn't blame him. "Hello there!" he greeted. "Are you ready to die?"

Annabeth ignored him. "Greeks!" she called behind her, readying her Aegis. "Charge!"

Prometheus smirked. "Titan Army! Don't stop until they're nothing but dismembered limbs!"

The rumble from the two armies was enough to physically shake the bridge, and when they clashed, the sound was similar to an earthquake. Immediately, Annabeth felt lost in an ocean of clashing weapons and a perpetual cloud of monster dust.

She received a moment of clarity when Percy lifted the Greek archers high enough to thin the opposition before guiding them behind the front line to provide more support, while Percy himself waded through monster and rogue to get to Annabeth. The two met up, standing back-to-back slicing through monsters like putty.

With the extra support, Annabeth was given a bit more breathing room to examine her surroundings. To her left was the phalanx, stretching from the far side of the bridge to about halfway across, at which point formation gave way to slaughter, with the Ares cabin, Ethan, Michael Yew, Percy, and herself were making sure no idiot could flank the phalanx and get to the healers and archers.

"We need to push forward!" Percy called over the chaos. "I need to keep Prometheus from getting to our line!"

"We'll get you there!" Yew assured, brandishing a sword and shield himself; aside from Percy, he was far and away their best sword-user, and, unlike Percy, he was useful in that he could serve as medic and archer if he needed to.

It wasn't hard to see Prometheus over the army; the dude stood fifteen feet tall, after all. Percy knew exactly what needed to happen. "I have an idea!" he called, quickly relaying it to the core team, who all readily agreed.

After the archers gave them a bit of room with their volley, Percy and Annabeth ran backwards away from the battle, before charging forward and jumping into the air, trusting their friends to do the same.

Clarisse was in charge of Annabeth; the daughter of Athena leapt onto the shaft of her spear, and was propelled by a massive swing by the daughter of Ares. Meanwhile, Yew was with Percy, propelling him up into the air with his shield, where Percy was able to shoot water jets to propel himself after Annabeth.

As soon as he landed in enemy territory, however, he lost sight of her. For a moment, he panicked, but he soon realized that she'd put on her invisibility cap, or at least he'd hoped.

Percy slashed down a few monsters to clear some space, before looking around for the Prometheus. "Don't touch the boy!" the Titan called. "He's mine!" and just like that, the battle had begun. When Prometheus said that, he was directly behind Percy, and smashed down a double fist into the ground, which Percy had to avoid.

The man quickly recovered, dashing into the Titan and slashing him repeatedly. The attacks didn't seem to harm him much, and Percy was knocked away by a swing of Prometheus' arm in Percy's blind spot during an attack, catching the boy right in the chest. Luckily, Percy's control over his power had become so advanced as to be able to form a hardened water barrier around certain areas when he fought. He could manipulate them to absorb impacts, shock, swords, you name it. Unfortunately, it could only do so much against a Titan; Percy wasn't all powerful after all.

The demigod was sent flying into a number of monsters, who'd seemingly forgotten the Titan's order to keep away, as they prepared to maul him.

Percy was still reeling from the attack, but he did have a guardian angel watching over him, as monsters mysteriously exploded in front of him. "Get up!" he heard Annabeth call while invisible. It was getting farther away.

"Annabeth! Where are you?!" Percy called, to no answer. "Annabeth!" he called louder, suddenly feeling a panic well up inside of him.

"Perhaps stop worrying about her," Prometheus was on Percy while he was distracted. "And focus on your opponent!" Percy barely managed to raise his blade to take the attack, but it still sent him careening off of the bridge.

Luckily, when he landed in the water, he was rejuvenated. Percy burst back into the action launching a flurry of blows at the Titan, managing to get in small cuts. Percy tried to be cautious though, purposefully not going all-out for fear of some power that he was unaware of. Percy knew that Prometheus could summon light, perhaps indicative of enlightenment, but as for what else…Percy could only imagine.

Soon, Percy was forced on the defensive, as the immortal's immense strength was enough to push back, even as Prometheus was so careless as to swat away and destroy his own army in trying to get to Percy.

The son of the sea god tried to push back, blasting Prometheus with wave after wave of self-made jets of water, but for every inch Percy took Prometheus took ten. The Titan made a grab for Percy's head, but the man dropped to the ground and then rolled out of the way of a stomp, blasting him again as he stood, only to be caught in the chest by a direct hit. Thankfully, this one didn't seem to wind Percy as much, even as he felt a new soreness from the impact area.

Percy took a small glance back to his side, and instantly regretted it. He saw the campers being pushed back, if only slightly, because he was wasting time. Due to his ADHD brain, a billion different possibilities ran through his mind; should he go help them? Should he fight? Where's Annabeth, maybe she could help them? No, she's already busy…right?

Prometheus dashed up to Percy and laid down a devastating fist downward; it took all Percy had to stay on his feet. But he did, which was more than he could say for that one winter. Percy's brain again shifted to Annabeth, wondering if she was okay. He shook his head.

"Still daydreaming? A shame; I'd expected more from the Greeks' great _hero_!" the Titan of Forethought mocked Percy's title, laying down another fist, jerking Percy back to the moment. "What's wrong? Scared? Are you going to freeze up like before?"

"I'll make you eat those words!" Percy vowed, purposefully letting himself fall, only to sweep Prometheus off of his feet in his imbalance. Percy rolled backward and then charged forward, his mind set on quickly finishing his opponent.

He knew that Prometheus was overconfident, but he wasn't likely a born fighter like Atlas. No, he was a talker; he'd tricked Percy and Annabeth to free him last summer, but didn't even try to fight them once he escaped, opting to run away.

Percy knew he could out-brutal this guy. He needed to be aggressive, and not even think about the consequences.

" _That's risky talk,"_ Riptide mentioned inside his head. " _But if it works…"_

If it worked, then the Titan general would be downed, his troops would be in disarray, and Percy could go back to help the others.

Percy stabbed toward Prometheus, who hadn't particularly expected a full assault. The Titan leapt back a bit, with Percy following. The demigod didn't let up, even as the force behind Prometheus' counters was incredible; Percy _knew_ he could match that power. The two traded blows for a bit, with Percy being forced back only slightly.

Prometheus tried out Percy's own strategy to catastrophic effect. Percy dodged and weaved deftly through Prometheus' less-than-refined attacks, and delivered a water-boosted sweeping kick to the face, stunning the Titan just long enough for Percy to drop his weapons and dig his hands into the Titan's head, sending out geysers of boiling hot water point-blank at Prometheus' face.

The Titan let out a chilling cry of agony before regaining himself, making a sloppy, reactionary swipe at Percy, who spun around it, formed a water blade as he did, and then stabbed the Titan square in the heart. Prometheus stopped moving for a second, giving Percy the time to jump back and retrieve Riptide.

" _What are you waiting for? Finish the job!"_ Riptide exclaimed. Percy didn't have to be told, taking a step toward the felled Titan. Or…he was supposed to be dead, but then he started laughing.

Prometheus began moving, once again radiating with Titanic power, as he removed the water blade. "That tickled, little hero," his voice sounded a bit more crazed than before. Percy had only succeeded in making him angry.

The Titan then shifted his head and grabbed at his shoulder. Percy heard a small grunt as Prometheus brought his arm down and shook it, shaking off Annabeth's invisibility cap. "Let go of her!" Percy yelled, dashing forward to save her. He wasn't needed, however, as the Titan just tossed her into Percy.

Both stood, having to fend off the monster army who really needed to listen to their commander and stop attacking them. Percy saw out of the corner of his eye that Prometheus was rearing back a fist.

"Look out!" he yelled, diving in front of the daughter of Athena to take the blow, but he only succeeded in getting knocked into her.

"Damn it, Percy! What the _hell_ is wrong with you?!" Annabeth snapped, kicking back a Drachanae and stabbing it with her Trident dagger.

"He's making fools of us!" Percy agreed. "We need to get rid of him somehow."

"No, _you_ need to _focus_!" she argued.

"I can't, not just on him!" Percy returned, slicing through more of the hordes of Dracanae that were pressing them, with Annabeth cutting through on her side as well.

"Why not?!"

" _Because I'm worrying about you and the others…because I'm supposed to be the hero,"_ Percy bit his lip, not wanting to answer that. It wouldn't do any good to tell her, and she'd probably already figured it out anyway.

As Percy shot through more monsters, he was met with the flying fist of Prometheus. Percy, in a gut reaction, held his hand out and shot water, pushing back with enough force to stop the attack, but that much force released that quickly put a heavy strain on the demigod, forcing Annabeth to take over and ward off Prometheus who, at this point, was just playing with them. He knew that they lacked the strength to kill him, at least by now, so he was just having fun.

While Annabeth attacked forward, Percy then had to defend their backs, and his brain was still going in a million directions on top of that. Suddenly, he didn't have to though, as three demigods had pushed through to them; Clarisse, Ethan, and Michael Yew. The three were like demons, cutting their way around the two that were struggling, and with the help, they managed to hold together.

Amused, Prometheus gestured for the monsters to gang up on them, and it took everything they all had to hold together.

" _Yes! With them all fighting, I shouldn't have to worry about Annabeth, or the others,"_ was Percy's line of thinking. "I'm going for the bastard!" he announced, dashing through the sea of monsters and blades, engaging the Titan once more. He didn't even heard Annabeth's words of protest before he was locked in combat.

It took about seven seconds for Percy to realize what a terrible choice that was. Yes, Percy was fighting Prometheus with a level of acceptable competence, but the others were suffering because of it. Without him, they couldn't hold together for long.

Percy was about to land a crushing blow, on the Titan, when he wavered, hearing Clarisse call behind him. "Yew is down!" she yelled, guarding him as best she could.

Prometheus took Percy's hesitation greedily, smashing him in the face and sending him careening into a sea of monsters…not like, the _actual_ sea of…whatever. He was, thankfully, able to hold most of them off. But then…

Something happened. The stars aligned that led to a chain of events occurring coincidentally one right after the other. And it wasn't in favor of the campers.

"Look out!" Annabeth yelled, throwing herself in front of Percy, and there was a flash of movement. Immediately, he understood what had happened; for a brief moment, his attention was absolutely zeroed in on Annabeth, as monster dust flew around her from the beast she'd just killed, only for her to collapse and hold her side, blood oozing down, along with a green-ish liquid on top of that; a poisoned attack, intended for Percy.

Sensing the peril she was in, the other monsters approached them, eager to finish the job. "Get back!" Percy yelled, summoning a ring of water around them, slashing through any who dared approach. "No one touches her!"

"Percy!" Ethan called behind him. The son of Poseidon's attention briefly shifted, knowing they were safe within the ring momentarily. Percy saw over the chaos that the demigod line had broken, and it was mass chaos back where they were. The archers were trying to offer support, but now the troops were too intermingled with the enemy.

"Troops! Pull back!" Prometheus ordered, his voice echoing across the bridge.

Confused, the fighting stopped, and the monsters retreated. Some campers saw this as a victory, but then they saw what was happening at the front, and the celebration ceased. The campers were down by at least twenty, maybe more. And that's not counting injuries, some crippling. The demigod force was in shambles.

Prometheus smirked, knowing he had them in a corner. "Well, I suppose this is checkmate," he stood towering over them, smug as ever, but Percy could no longer fight him, not while Annabeth lay injured and defenseless. "I believe it's time to think things through. You army will soon fall, you cannot leave her side, and it's your fault for assuming you could engage us on an even playing field," he claimed. "Word of advice, for the future; play dirty, and you might win your next battle. But who am I kidding? You won't have a 'next battle', now will you?"

Percy looked down to the ground, his body shaking from the realization that the Titan was right. If he hadn't been so selfish to assume they could take them…if he hadn't boasted so heavily last summer, then maybe they would've stopped him. Now his friends, his family, was going to be slaughtered.

"P-Percy…" Annabeth moaned, seeming to be barely conscious from both blood loss and poison.

It was only in this brief moment of respite that he noticed a resonance from his waist; it was the memento, the tooth, given to him by Zoë. It radiated a certain power, and for a moment, Percy figured it might be useful to end Prometheus and take back the battle. After all, Zoë was an immortal, so her soul would likely have the power to kill a Titan. However, it would've been impossible to do so and keep Annabeth from being mauled to death.

"Just…get it over with…" Percy muttered.

Prometheus chuckled, and something then changed about his voice. It no longer had any ounce of malicious intent. Instead, it seemed that friendly and wise old man that was chained to the rock face. "You may want to shield yourself," he said, and instantly Percy's brain went into overdrive.

"Everyone close your eyes!" he yelled desperately, doing so himself and seeing the blindingly bright light burst from Prometheus' body. Thankfully, most of the monsters were too dimwitted to react to the words in time, and most were temporarily blinded immediately. Now, Percy had two options, fight or flight. The correct choice was clear. "Retreat! Back to base!" he yelled, picking up Annabeth and slinging her over his shoulder.

Everyone ran back across the bridge, the rumble causing it to shake. On his way past, Percy picked up Yew in his other arm. His wound may have been worse than Annabeth's. Percy doubted that he'd survive, but if there was a chance…

There were only two people who didn't run; Clarisse and Ethan. Ethan actually ran forward, openly accepting the light, letting it sear his eyes. He then used his copy/revenge ability that he'd used against Antaeus to replicate it, letting off an equally massive burst of light, blinding the remainder of Kronos' army that hadn't been fazed by the first light.

Once both lights receded, Kronos' army was immobilized, unable to see. They would probably stay like that for only a few more seconds. Ethan collapsed, having used up his remaining stamina with that little stunt. Clarisse picked him up and started running.

Percy made it to the edge of the bridge and was about to keep going, when Annabeth stopped him. "Wait…" she moaned. Percy stopped running for a moment. "D…destroy…the bridge…" she begged.

It took Percy a moment to realize why; if they couldn't destroy Kronos' army, they'd take away their advantage of position. This way, they'd have to loop around to a different bridge to make an assault or take the time to shift their established base camp to another bridge, which would give the demigods time to recover.

But…Clarisse and Ethan were on their way. He could wait for them, and then…no, because the monsters who took the light the first time had already recovered, and were hot on their heels, even as Prometheus just stood there, waiting to see what would happen.

It was now or never.

" _I'm sorry…"_ he thought, putting Yew and Annabeth down. He built up power within himself and felt the familiar tug at his gut. Geysers of water shot from the river and crashed up onto the bridge. With each hit, the geysers grew more powerful, compounding their intensity until finally, the bridge cracked. Percy continued, forcing the mounds of water that had shot up through the bridge back down onto it, completely shattering it.

Clarisse had amazingly kept her balance and kept running despite the madness, and was so close. The bridge was falling, but she could make it.

Percy held his hand out, seeing her try to leap the now thirty meter gap between them, and she would've made it.

Then a wave of arrows from enemy archers flew, most landing in the gap. Clarisse crashed into the side of the bridge, with Percy hanging onto her by the wrist. There was another moment of clarity, when Clarisse began to spit up blood from impalement wounds from a few arrows hitting her back into her lungs, and her grip failed.

Percy grabbed desperately to keep her up and alive, but he only caught Ethan instead of the both of them. Clarisse fell to the waters below. Percy would've gone after her, or willed the water to heal her, but with archers now a threat again, he couldn't afford to stay or waste time, so he had to cut his losses. It was a tough pill to swallow, but Percy carried the three immobile demigods and dashed back to base.

He did the one thing he could think of to perhaps help, even though it was a one in a million chance. "Father…please…help her…" he prayed quietly.

On the way back, Percy found himself shedding tears. He only wondered one thing. He wondered if, for Prometheus, everything had gone according to plan.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Yeah...I'm gonna have to take a small break after chapter 58, but it's the length of a closing chapter so it should tide you guys over. It's just with how I've felt and general lack of motivation/inspiration/"I started playing through BotW again" that has prevented me from even making significant headway into the chapter I began the day I started daily uploads. Should be maybe a week after that before I start posting again...as a prediction. I'm beginning to feel better and my hours are short when I return to work, so I should get a lot done if nothing huge comes up like "ooh Nioh Complete Edition is only 50 bucks now"...I have a problem.**

 **Anyway, this time we see the result of Percy's overconfidence...in that basically everyone dies or is put out of commission. Oh and I definitely didn't steal Sam's "death" from Uncharted 4 for Clarisse's here.**

 **Don't forget to leave a review!**


	56. Hero Of Their Own Story

Winona was one of the first to hear of the campers' return. Hell, she heard their footsteps before anyone sent for her, but she was sure to be one of the first ones there.

Despite herself, her thoughts shifted to Mikey, who was likely to have bad wounds given his aggressive style; she'd healed him so many times. She could only have hoped this wouldn't be any different. But it was.

Percy trudged into camp last, carrying three bodies, all looking dead. Ethan Nakamura, who just at a glance, Winona could tell he'd never be able to see again, Annabeth, and-"

"Mikey!" Winona cried, her voice hoarse with urgency. She dashed up them as Percy dropped the immobile demigods. Bianca was hot on her heels, likely attracted to all of the dying people. "Mikey!" she repeated his name. " _No response to verbal stimuli…only a small pulse…"_ she ran through a mental checklist. His wounds were incredibly severe, and it must've taken the group at least an hour to make it back. If he'd lost that much blood, then…then…

"Win," Percy caught her attention briefly. "A-Annabeth, she needs-"

"What happened to Mikey?" Winona demanded, finding her brows tucked into a scowl.

He looked to be in no mood to deal with attitude, but he was too dejected to bother fighting back. "I…p-please, I…"

"You were supposed to protect him, hero," the daughter of Apollo ended that thread right there and returned her attention to Michael. Bianca peeked over her shoulder.

"He's a dead man," she said it so casually.

"No, he's _not_!" her tone made it clear for Bianca to leave. Winona then felt a hand on her shoulder, a tender hand, an understanding one.

"He's too far gone. You should-"

"No, I can save him. I can-" Winona hesitated, seeing the color flush from his skin and his eyes roll back into his chest. "No, no!" she cried. She quickly ripped off pieces of her shirt to clog up the wounds, desperate to stop the blood, but Michael didn't return.

"…I see his soul," Bianca claimed. "It's drifting downward, to the Underworld. It won't be long now."

"N-no, I…can't accept that…" tears formed and then rolled down her cheeks. She'd known Mikey and been close to him for three years. After this war, she'd confess and then…they would go from there. That was the plan, and _this_ had no part in it.

Percy and a few others stepped away from Winona. "Win…your form…"

The girl was too distraught to notice her form flickering between her normal self, and the sun god's divine form. If it was unleased, then everyone in camp would die. The only thing that Win took from this feeling was this incredible power for good, to heal. "I-I can save him!" she cried, finding a golden glow illuminate her hands. It was dangerously bright, enough to where it felt like looking at the sun itself if stared at directly.

"Win…calm down…" Percy tried to talk her down, like he'd done when Bianca got out of control. "We need you right now. You can't-"

"I can!" Winona's hands grew brighter, and the light extended to her arms. Only one person dared stand anywhere near her at this point. The ground around her was beginning to char, the tar melting.

Bianca had previously been warded off with the others, but now stepped toward the daughter of Apollo, using her shadows as footing to replace the floor which was melting. She grabbed Winona by the shoulder and wrenched her to look at Bianca. Then, the daughter of Hades slapped her.

The shock of the blow was enough to make the light recede to nothing, which was all anyone there wanted. Winona, in a somewhat pitiful attempt at fighting back, tried to slap Bianca in retaliation, but the physically superior girl caught her wrist. "Don't try and stop me! I _know_ I can save him! We're wasting time!"

Bianca grinned, not knowing of any other way to respond to this heavy stuff. "Alright, I think the girlie needs a nap," she said, completely decimating the somber air of the situation, before hoisting Winona up onto her shoulder and walking away, with Winona sobbing and screaming all the way out, but being either unable or unwilling to call on that godly power again.

Bianca doubted that she could've helped Michael anyway. By the time she would've used her power, the boy would've already been dead for twenty minutes; his heart stopped beating on the way back to base.

Before she completely left, she turned around, lifted her blindfold up above on of her eyes, put it back on fully after a second, and then pointed at Annabeth. "And she's only got a few minutes with that poison," she claimed. "You should probably get on that."

Percy jerked into serious mode, seeing that, indeed, Annabeth's face was quickly losing color as well. With Win gone, their best healer wasn't an option. The others were already busy with the other injured at this point; it could be a few minutes before any of them are ready, and Annabeth didn't have that long.

Percy tried to calm down and think of what to do. He needed to get the poison out of her system, but…

Percy bit his lip. " _What?"_ Riptide wondered, even its voice sounding shaken about today's events.

" _I…I have an idea, but…it would never work…"_

" _Last I checked, you don't usually care if it's likely to work or not,"_ it claimed. " _Try it."_

Percy took a deep breath, and picked Annabeth up, taking her to the war room, where an Apollo camper had laid out a blanket for her. He shooed everyone out that was in it, even though most of them were Athena campers who were worried about their sister, as he didn't want anyone to see him when he attempted this. There were some things that people shouldn't know, assuming it would even work. He stepped back and tried to zero in on her blood, specifically the green ooze that had mixed into it.

Percy soon felt a tug at his gut, but with it came a nausea; he'd never tried to control anything but water, but he figured if it was at least partially water, which most liquids were, then he should have a shot at controlling it. Still, to have that kind of power…to control a person's blood…

He shook those thoughts from his head, and willed the poisoned blood out of the wound, forming a thick red sphere of opaque liquid in the air. " _Don't take too much,"_ Riptide warned. It was good advice; she'd already lost a fair amount of blood, and she'd need as much as could be spared.

Percy stopped when Annabeth gasped for air, her eyes flying open. It broke Percy's concentration, making the sphere of blood drop and splash on the ground, and collapsed from his nausea. He'd never noticed it before, but there was a connection between him and whatever body of liquid he was controlling. To have that with blood, such an intimate and integral part of oneself, especially Annabeth's…was just too foreign a feeling, like if you saw a homicide victim unprepared. It was simply unsettling.

Nonetheless, Percy willed himself toward the girl as she let out pained groans, holding her wound and trying to stop more of her blood from oozing out. Percy quickly retrieved whatever bandages he could find and returned to her.

No words were exchanged between them as Annabeth sat up and removed her shirt so he could clean and wrap her wound. It was only after she was laid back down did they speak.

"What happened?" she questioned. "Did we win?"

Percy bit his lip; she always asked the worst questions first. It wasn't like, are your injuries manageable, or, do you think Hephaestus can rebuild the bridge after the war.

"No…we retreated after you were injured. Prometheus planned the whole thing, or he knew it was going to happen, I think," Percy explained. "Ethan is blind. Clarisse sacrificed herself to save him. Yew is…too far gone to save now…"

"And you retreated?" she seemed dissatisfied. "Now their sacrifices were in vain."

"…" Percy didn't respond to that, and Annabeth soon realized that she'd spoken too hastily.

"I mean…that was wrong, I…no, it wasn't in vain. They died so we could live, right?"

"…" the sentiment didn't make their deaths hurt less. Percy bit his lip again, fighting back tears. "First Beck…and now Yew and Clarisse…all because of…me…"

"Percy, that's not…" she didn't finish, shocked to see him break down so unapologetically, burying his face in his hands to hide his tears. "You…" seeing him crying made Annabeth want to as well. "You can't break down, Percy…they need you out there."

"No, they don't!" he snapped. "I'm the one killing all of them!" Annabeth drew back from the outburst. "I'm…I'm sorry…"

"D-don't be…" Annabeth claimed. "…Percy…why did you seem so distracted during the battle?" he hesitated. "Yes, I was watching," she answered his question preemptively. Percy kept his mouth shut on that matter. Annabeth nodded. "Fine then," she seemed a bit disappointed, but there was a slightest twinge of understanding laced in her words. "I'll need ambrosia. I'll recover in here, and continue planning with my siblings," she explained. Percy nodded and stood, even as the soreness began to catch up with him.

He retrieved the ambrosia for Annabeth and then exited the war room. He tried his best to keep it together in front of them, but he wasn't shown anything other than indifference or animosity. For the first time in over a year, the campers had begun to resent him again. He boasted that they'd be able to stand up to the Titans, and now look what happened when they tried.

It was embarrassing.

" _If I had another shot…"_ he thought to himself. " _Or maybe I should go alone. Anything to get rid of this emptiness inside…I could probably fight better on my own anyway, and even if I die, then I won't lead them to their deaths again…"_

Percy turned a corner, and ran into Zoë. Without a word, she led him to an isolated corner of camp. She looked around and snapped her fingers. Around the two of them formed a small wildland, with shrubberies and thickets blocking them from sight. "We are alone," she assured, as if giving him the cue to break down again.

Percy dropped to his knees. "…"

"I heard the mission went poorly," Zoë didn't sound sympathetic.

"…Are you waiting for an apology?" Percy's tone was low and muted, almost like he didn't want her to hear. He spoke slowly, his eyes glazed over. He wanted to shed tears, but all he felt inside was this burning rage. He had no idea who it was directed at…perhaps himself.

"No; it wasn't my Hunters' lives that were lost," she answered.

"…Then what do you want me to say?"

Zoë, honestly, didn't want him to say anything. She'd expected him to cry, to beg forgiveness, for which she would reprimand him for being so weak-willed. But this…this was something else entirely. In Percy, she didn't see a man who'd failed and shattered his own spirit, but one who's soul shone brighter than ever in this circumstance.

"You wish to go back and keep fighting?" Zoë guessed. Percy's eyes flickered with doubt. "Mortals are fairly simple to read, even you," she claimed.

"…You're going to try and stop me?" Percy stood. "Don't bother."

"You think yourself immortal?" she questioned. "If so, I suggest you cease that foolish chain."

"This again?" Percy remained stubborn. "The only reason I lost was because of-"

"Do not make excuses; do not stoop to that pitiful level," Zoë interrupted. "You are above that; you are entirely capable of introspection and self-reflection. I have seen it from you."

Percy clenched his fist, knowing she was right. It was his own fault for the defeat; he went in overconfident and everyone suffered. He put false hopes in their heads and now he had their blood on his hands…and this blood, he couldn't will away.

"…I'm the hero of the prophecy, remember?" Percy argued still. "I can't die until after I've made my 'choice' whatever that is, right?"

"False," Zoë retorted. "You are not eighteen yet, not until tomorrow night at midnight. Until then, Bianca di Angelo is as likely a 'hero' as you are. As well, your 'choice' could be this foolish one to march to your death or stay here and recover."

"Why are you so resistant to the idea of fighting the Titan Army?" Percy accused. "It seems to me like you're afraid."

"And you should be too," the goddess returned, crossing her arms over her chest. She blushed at her own statement; admitting weakness was never easy for a Greek. She was too damned proud, just like Thalia and Annabeth, just like…him. If she wasn't a goddess and a maiden, Percy would have said they were perfect for each other. "And why should we fight them? We are tasked with defending Olympus, not destroying the Titan Army."

The question baffled Percy. "Why? Because they're _evil_! They'd murder us at the first available opportunity. I see opportunities to kill them, and you prevent it by withholding resources!" Percy argued.

"Evil?" Zoë questioned. "Define that."

Percy hesitated. "Well, it's…it's when…"

"When…" Zoë urged. Percy only glared. "And your attempt to do the same as what they do, is that not also evil, by your standards?" she crossed her arms.

"I don't need this right now," Percy said, wanting to walk away and cool off. Zoë, using her godly speed, stepped in front of the entrance.

"Yes, you do," she claimed. "In this first day, I have witnessed a side of you that I wish would disappear entirely. This childish belief that you are righteous and they are evil, needs to disappear. You are not invincible because you fight for the gods, just as the enemy is not due to their alliance with the Titans."

"I _don't_ fight for the gods," Percy growled, putting poison into the words like the gods were an infestation. "Never again."

"All the same," Zoë didn't mean to provoke him with her word choice, and so retracted it to avoid further conflict. She was finally seeing the wheels turn again, and she wouldn't let reckless anger get in the way of that. "I believe you've had too much time to dwell on this matter. Forget good and evil, Percy. You have something to fight for already," she gestured to camp, where a hundred friends and family were waiting for him to reawaken their fighting spirit. "You do not require a false ideal to stand by as well."

Percy considered her words. He took a deep breath, calming his nerves. "…You're right. I've been…reckless…" he said. "But…there will be a point when that's necessary."

"I sense so very soon," Zoë agreed, before gesturing to the others. "But not at their expense. That is not what a hero would do."

"But a hero is inherently good. You said to forget that."

"No, this is the point," Zoë softly smiled. "Everyone is the hero of their own story. That is why that Luke chose this path, why Thalia chose hers, why I have chosen mine. Know this, Percy Jackson."

Percy nodded. "I need to…rethink some things," he said before exiting the tent.

Zoë could've said so much more, elaborating on her final statement as why she was disturbed by young Annabeth's insistence on apathy toward Luke, among other things. However, these were things that needn't have weighed on his mind.

xxxXXXxxx

Bianca shadow-travelled the two of them fairly far away, so that she knew they could be alone. "Put me down! Let me go! I can save him!" Winona kept crying, tears dripping down her face as Bianca set her onto the ground.

Bianca stepped back, thinking that this emotion would just run its course, but it kept coming from the young girl. It was in this kind of situation that Bianca had absolutely no idea how to act. Should she try and lighten the mood? She definitely didn't know how to comfort Winona, especially not the same way that Percy had done for her in her time of need. "Oh, come on…it's just…I mean…"

"No! Shut up!" Winona swatted the air in front of her without looking, probably thinking Bianca was gonna try to touch her. "I _hate_ you!"

"H-hate me? Why?" she girl asked nervously. If Winona was serious, then Bianca wouldn't know what to do.

"You didn't let me save Mikey! Now he's gonna die!"

Bianca rubbed the back of her neck and tapped the ground nervously with her foot. "Well…in my defense, he'd been dead for a few minutes before you got to him so…" the comment had the opposite of the intended effect, sending Winona into a fresh wave of sobs. "H-hey, come on now…don't be like that…" Bianca stepped closer and sat down beside Winona, snuggling up close and letting the girl cry into her shoulder.

"Why did you stop me?! I wanted to save him!" she cried.

"Because you would've killed everyone else there," Bianca said matter-of-factly.

"I don't care! I could've-"

"No way, nu-uh; there's no way you don't care about that," Bianca interrupted. Winona bit her lip, holding in tears. She knew she had to stop sometime. Slowly, as Bianca spoke, she stopped crying, as much as she wanted to continue. "You're the girl who was horrified at what those powers did to the enemy a year ago, and you're saying you'd have no problem doing that to your friends? No way; only _I_ can make those stupid decisions that risk everything. Then it's _your_ job to stop _me_ , right?"

"I-I…I guess…you're right…" Winona wiped away the last of her tears. "But…it's not fair…"

"Who said anything about being fair?" Bianca wondered.

"I wish…I just don't want anyone to die…why can't I have that?"

"…Win, I…" Bianca, at first, struggled to come up with words to respond to that. Then, after a bit of digging into her own subconscious, she pulled out some forgotten memories. "When I was a Hunter on Mount Orthys…I had to watch my little brother die…I saw the life draining out of him…"

Winona nodded. "I'm sorry…"

Bianca shook her head and smiled. "So I understand how it feels…to have something feel so real and then it be just taken away in an instant," she recalled how cold Nico's skin was by the time they'd reached Olympus and his body was taken away. "To feel like if you'd have been stronger, or if you'd have known something else at the time, that things would've turned out better…but…"

"If you get it…then why do you think of death so lightly? How can you live like that? I want to know, to fill this gaping hole in me. Please," the tone of her speech made it sound like she was a physical pain to have not been able to do anything.

"…Because death isn't the end. It's a beginning of another, eternal, journey."

"I don't understand…what journey?"

Bianca stared (not really, blindfold, you know), up at the moon, still finding its soft coolness comforting, even after giving up Artemis' Blessing. "If you think about it, death is just a point where you don't exist anymore in the mortal sense, right? If you think about it that way, then take Heracles or Dionysus, who became gods when they left the mortal realm, or Zoë, when she took Artemis' place. For them, leaving this world was a literal beginning to a literal journey."

Winona shook her head. "…That's not the same. They chose that path. Death is sudden and unexpected. It's cold…and scary…" the girl curled up into a ball, bringing her knees up to her chest.

Bianca blankly stared at her friend, and wished for nothing more than to see her happy again. Slowly, carefully, Bianca lifted her blindfold up over just one eye, and looked at Winona with her own eyes. She'd never realized, but Bianca hadn't ever seen Winona for real, at least not that she can remember. She was stunned at how pretty Winona had grown. More than her figure, though, Bianca looked at her eyes.

She saw a deep sadness, which was understandable, and what would become a long-lasting melancholy. These didn't worry her. What did was just the slightest hint of resentment that appeared when Winona stared right back at Bianca. The daughter of Apollo stood. "Take us back to base. I need to tend to the wounded," she said it almost robotically. Bianca put her blindfold back on, nodded, and shadow-travelled them back.

Once they returned, Bianca felt Winona's presence leave her, without even a "goodbye" or "do you want to help?"

Bianca would've refused anyway, as she had her own business to attend to. She quickly found Percy, who was sitting alone at the edge of camp. She wasn't sure what had happened between when he first came back to camp and now, but she could tell that it had deeply affected him. His soul was a bit more refined in Bianca's vision, like he'd hardened his own beliefs through the situation. He sat with a bit more purpose as well, if that made sense.

"Percy…" she got his attention with caution. Despite the outward changes, she had no idea how he was feeling. He looked up at her.

He mustered a smile. "Hey, Firefly," he greeted, his voice sounding a bit more reserved than usual.

"Are you…okay?"

Percy took a second to respond. "…I'll heal…Bianca…" he took a deep breath. "I think I have to now," he said resoundingly. Bianca was confused at first, but quickly recalled what he'd said after the Battle of Camp Half-Blood.

The River Styx.

Percy had considered going after the Princess Andromeda, but the time didn't seem right, and he would've been leaving the others to battle without him. Now though, after such a heavy loss, it felt like this was his only choice.

Bianca didn't realize it at first, but she was shaking. Just the thought of going back to that place was…horrifying. "Hey, what's wrong? You're going paler than usual," Percy mentioned.

"I…I don't want to lose control again…" she muttered. Percy stood and walked over to her. He brought her into a hug.

"You won't," he assured. "You wanna know how I know that?"

"H…how?"

"Because I've seen you control it before, and seeing that level of control was incredible," he said. He sounded so confident, so sure that she'd be fine. Bianca could only return the embrace, and hope that he was right. "We'll wait for morning, for you…and for me," he continued. Bianca was about to ask what he meant, but he beat her to it. "I feel like…I don't know. I just want to be here in case something happens during the night."

"I understand," she said, separating. "I'll keep watch. Tonight, I protect you."

Percy nodded. "And Win," he said off-handedly. Bianca found herself blushing. Percy, after a second, continued. "Thanks for earlier with her. She seems to be back to normal now."

" _If only you knew_ ," was Bianca's first thought, but then she found herself confused as to whether he meant to imply that she was specifically protecting the Apollo girl, or if he was simply leading into his continued statement. He didn't offer any clarification, just went to where Annabeth was to get her to rest as well, leaving Bianca wondering.

xxxXXXxxx

Prometheus had had worse treatment by immortals than how the Titans treated him after his betrayal. It was all the same to him. Within hours, he was before Kronos in that pitiful body of his, atop Mount Orthys. " **Brother,** " he addressed.

"My Lord," Prometheus returned, stone-faced.

" **I have heard of your…incident.** "

"…Do what you will. I will not plead," the Titan of forethought spat. "You can do nothing to me which has not already been done."

Kronos cracked a thin smile. " **You'd be surprised, brother. You see, I'm still in need of a leader of my forces as I gain strength, even for just another day. Unfortunately, he's in a bit of a bind. Perhaps you could…take his place?** "

Prometheus was then brought before the fallen Titan, Atlas, who was struggling under the weight of the sky. "You…You wouldn't…Atlas already failed you, My Lord, and you would trust him?"

" **He was effective. Even at the cost of his freedom, he succeeded in capturing** _ **and**_ **killing an Olympian, which is far more than I can say for you, brother.** "

Atlas managed to look up, his eyes wild with fury and anticipation. Without warning, Prometheus was shoved underneath the sky's weight, and Atlas was pushed out. Unlike others who immediately collapse after being freed from this torment, Atlas was at full strength. One of his gifts, to instantly recover his strength after a trial of some magnitude.

"I will lead your armies, My Lord," Atlas said hastily, his eyes bloodshot with rage and madness. "I will have revenge upon those who would _shame_ us!"

" **Brother, calm yourself,** " Kronos ordered, though he smirked. " **Perhaps you are correct. Brother, you are to launch an assault directly onto those pitiful demigods. I don't care how many monsters or allies are destroyed in the encounter. The Olympians** _ **will**_ **fall tomorrow, is that understood?** "

Atlas cracked a smile, with flecks of rock crusting off of his face as he did. "Of course. But," Atlas put a caveat. "I believe it would be best…if I had my equipment back to aid me."

 **Author's Note:**

 **Well...that was depressing. Hey all! I'm waiting for the rain to stop so I can climb up to a Korok Seed by Kakariko Village, so I figured I might as well post, even though it's a bit late today.**

 **Oh, and remember when I said I might have to break. Well, the night after I posted that chapter, I wrote an entire chapter and a half after I posted, so...we'll see. I'm really gonna try and push through but it's still up for grabs.**

 **Anyway, uh...for a duo song with Percy and Luke, I'm thinking "Two Sides of the Same Coin" by Yuzu...it's the fifth ED of Hunter X Hunter (the greatest thing ever made ever). I picked this choice mostly because it's one of my favorite songs ever, despite myself, and, when I was more familiar with the lyrics, I thought it'd fit well with these two, because this is the whole thing I've been building up in the story, so...yeah. There isn't a good English version, but the original is fine anyway.**

 **Oh, and don't forget to review!**


	57. Am I A Hero To You

Percy woke up sore, even in his dream. It was an odd dream for a demigod; normally they're quite vivid, but this one was blurry in a sense. Instead of following a 'narrative' in that it was a vision, things just blurred from one event to another, and each only served to put more stress and anxiety into Percy's brain.

It was all of his failures, all of the times when his best wasn't good enough. It went all the way back to his quest for the Master Bolt, when he wasn't skilled enough to beat Ares. When he'd let Tyson die was a big one. It'd been too long since he'd remembered that big loveable oaf, and the memory only served to drive another knife into Percy's heart. Then it jumped to his duel with Atlas, and all of the fear he'd felt during it and in the next six months all came rushing back, as doubt crept into his mind about everything to do with the Great Prophecy.

Then Percy was thrust into this position which seemed so far off and unrealistic. Beckendorf had killed himself, Silena had betrayed camp, Ethan was blind, Clarisse was gone; likely dead, as was Michael Yew. Most everyone he knew and loved was dead or a traitor, and Percy soon remembered that this was his reality.

Percy's nightmare snapped to a black void. In front of him was an unmoving figure with a wound oozing green venom.

" _For all I know, you may die or I may die and whoever is left will be heartbroken,"_ Annabeth's words echoed in his heart as he approached. " _Thanks, for making me smile more."_

"I…" Percy was stunned, approaching Annabeth's corpse. Scenes flashed in his mind.

" _Annabeth! No!"_ Percy dove through the air to save her on the Princess Andromeda, right after he'd expended his energy to kill Polyphemus. He took her to his neighborhood. " _This is both my joy and my trouble."_

He was standing over her now, seeing her blank eyes staring straight up. " _I missed you, Seaweed Brain,"_ she'd said, after the most grueling quest he'd ever taken to find her, after both had suffered the worst battle, the worst torture, of their lives, with only each other for comfort.

" _If I can do these types of things and get rejected…then maybe someone like you won't have to,"_ he recalled his first act of assurance to her, his first vow. He knelt down and took her hand, her arm, where she'd been hurt when he'd said it. Her skin was cold to the touch. Percy found that he was short of breath.

Another scene flashed; a rumbling volcano about to blow. Tears were streaming down Annabeth's cheeks, her face stained with soot. " _I_ have _to do this. I_ have _to make this choice,"_ he'd said. "No…you don't…just go with her and forget all of this…" Percy begged, knowing that it ultimately led to this.

In a flash, Percy recalled the moment she took the poisoned dagger. Everything came to a standstill, and then, in another flash, Percy found himself over her body, in this black void. " _I love you…"_ Annabeth's barely audible whisper before the Battle of Camp Half-Blood against Daedalus and Minos sounded.

It rang in his head, growing louder, and louder, and louder, until suddenly-

xxxXXXxxx

Bianca's night of watch was a peaceful one, with no attacks or even strange noises whatsoever. It was early in the morning when the next people woke up for guard duty, but Bianca stayed a little bit later even then that, just in case. When she saw the sun begin rising was when she decided that it was a good enough time to start the day proper.

Bianca passed by many of the sleeping tents on the way to Percy's own. It was separated by…nothing, really. Whoever slept where was their decision. She saw Winona tossing and turning; she'd wake soon. She was probably dreaming about Michael. Bianca figured it might've been better to wake her up, but then, she didn't want the girl to be even madder at her than she already was, especially when it could've been a good dream.

Instead, she went straight to Percy, to see about their plan. She didn't find him sleeping in his tent, though. "Where is he…?" she thought aloud. She didn't think he'd wander off during the night. Bianca stepped out of his tent and looked around, not seeing him as one of the few people who were milling about.

"He woke up in the middle of the night…" she heard a somber voice next to her, from a person she barely noticed. Bianca jumped at the sound of it.

"Ah!" she yelped. "W-who're you?" she questioned. The mystery girl cocked her head to the side; the motion seemed so natural for her that it seemed like she did it often to look cute in a ditsy, absent-minded kind of way.

"Silena…" she seemed almost ashamed to share her name. Bianca grimaced.

"The traitor," she recalled. Silena didn't argue against that. "I thought you'd have gone back to Kronos by now," she mentioned. Silena turned away, silent. Bianca stared at her soul for a minute. It was pretty, but strained. It looked like she was trying really hard to stay pure, to stay happy. It was admirable. "So did you see where Percy went?" Bianca suspected that Silena had been keeping tabs on him. "Or did you sell him to Kronos?"

Silena flinched. She seemed about to speak, but her lip quivered uncontrollably. She turned and walked away a few steps.

"Hey, you've got to stop being so down all of the time, lady," Bianca put her hands behind her head and let it lean on them. "No one's ever gonna forgive you if you just mope and dope all of the time."

Silena stopped, surprised that she was told a reasonable statement, but she felt it was an ultimately wasted one; she already tried to help them, and they wouldn't listen. Now she had to watch her friends march to their deaths day after day until none were left; it was a fate that was wholly deserved, for what she did to them.

"He…went to Annabeth…" Silena muttered before shuffling away.

Bianca nodded to herself and entered the war tent, where Annabeth was to rest, so she could still be present to plan. The daughter of Hades saw two souls on the makeshift bed; the two lovebirds.

"You're up early," Annabeth's voice came through.

"Y-yeah, I…came to check on-"

"On Percy," she guessed. Bianca nodded. She heard the daughter of Athena chuckle. "It's alright. Come in, have a seat. It'll be a few hours yet before he's ready anyway."

Reluctantly, Bianca obeyed. "Does he usually sleep late?"

"Usually," Annabeth confirmed. "But today especially. He came in really early, maybe at one in the morning, to see me."

"R-really?"

"Yeah," Annabeth giggled again. "I wake up to find him crying over me, half-asleep and fully delirious from fatigue. He mumbles something about a dream, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to have him stay," Annabeth pet his hair. "It's kind of funny how he puts on the tough guy act; he's such a softie," she claimed. Bianca shifted in her chair, wanting to say something. "Hm? What's up; you look like you've got a really bad itch or something."

"W-well, it's just…I couldn't disagree more…"

"Really? Why's that?"

This was Bianca's cue to start talking. "I mean, I don't get how you can say that when he's so abrasive. Have you _seen_ him on the battlefield?"

"Yes, I have," she said.

"He's a monster when he fights," Bianca continued. "He's a leader too; he whipped even Camp Half-Blood into working their butts off!"

"I'm aware."

"Then how can you say he's a softie?"

"Because he is," Annabeth said matter-of-factly. Bianca scoffed. "You've obviously never watched 'Your Name' with him," she said, to which Bianca shook her head. "Well, let me put it this way. You may not get to see it too often, but when it's just me and him…when it's important…he couldn't be more sensitive. He hides it under an iron shell and guards it well, like Zoë's wolves, but his heart is like a little glass sculpture; small, defenseless, fragile…but so powerful. When the light hits the glass at just the right angle and at just the right time…when he lets it speak through his words and through his actions…that's when he shines the brightest."

The daughter of Hades couldn't see it, or notice it, but as Annabeth had said those words, she'd had a look of melancholy on her face, her eyes distant and deeply saddened. " _If only he wouldn't worry so much about me…maybe then he'd have been able to show it yesterday…"_ she couldn't help but think, continuing to stroke his hair lovingly.

Bianca stayed silent for a second, digesting the words. "…I don't get it," she concluded. "But…you can understand it…I think maybe that's why he chose you and not me," she blurted out without thinking. After a second of thinking about it, heat rushed to Bianca's cheeks. "I-I mean, that's not how I…I, u-uh…"

Annabeth laughed, having been briefly shaken out of her daze. "Hey, you said it, not me!" she exclaimed. "Thank you."

"F-for what?"

"Well, I never said it before, and I know it's _long_ overdue, but I figure I say it anyway."

"But for _what_?"

"For being there for him, in that winter, when I couldn't. From the stories he told…you used to let your heart speak a lot back then. Maybe you should do it more now too?" she suggested.

"B-but-"

"Ugnnn…" Percy moaned, having been woken up by Annabeth's laughter. "…you woke me up…" he complained.

"Sorry, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, though she didn't sound very apologetic. Percy stood and stretched his back.

"Any news on enemy movement?" he wondered, his brain quickly switching on.

"None that I've been informed of. We gave them quite a pounding yesterday, even if our own losses were…" Annabeth hesitated. "Heavy…"

Bianca stood. "Let's go soon. I want to be back here before anything happens."

Percy and Annabeth blinked in surprise. "What's with the initiative from you?" Annabeth wondered.

"I thought you hated the Underworld," Percy agreed.

"I just…" Bianca struggled to find the words. "I want…to go and get back!" was all she could come up with to describe these sudden feelings.

"Alright," Percy agreed. "Then let's go."

"Check in with Win first; she either up and ready for watch, or is about to be," Annabeth suggested. "Then get some other camper to watch; she's been doing it all night."

Percy nodded, and the two left the daughter of Athena to her own devices.

When they approached the Apollo girl, she didn't react all that much, other than raise an eyebrow at Percy. "You're up early," she noted. It surprised Percy how much salt was in the words, like her entire mindset had shifted since the day before. Granted, he couldn't really blame her.

"Noted," he said. "Anything from the enemy?"

"Yeah, they've got a new top dog," she said. "Pegasus scouts reported a Titan with four arms and rocky skin," she said. Instantly, Percy knew who it was.

"Atlas," both he and Bianca said at the same time, a familiar sense of dread welling up within both of them. At first Percy was confused why Bianca had it, but then remembered that it was Atlas' schemes and might that ultimately cost Nico his life. Win frowned.

"The one who kicked your ass that one winter?" she asked. The two turned away, still ashamed at what happened that night.

"Way to open the wound, Sunspot," Bianca muttered. Winona's frown deepened, but she didn't pursue the subject further.

"They said it looked like it'd be a long while before they were ready to attack, if they even would," Winona assured them. "So whatever you need to do, you've got time."

The thought didn't help Percy's mood. "Alright, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he said. Winona cocked her head to the side.

"You sure? We can send-"

"No offensives," Percy said sternly. "We bide our time. Keep tabs on their movements. If I'm not back when they mobilize, Zoë and you are in charge"

Winona looked ready to argue, but ultimately decided against it, just nodding and watching as the two shadow-travelled away.

xxxXXXxxx

Percy had no idea where Bianca willed them to go inside the Underworld, but he was pretty sure she didn't will them to go straight to Hades' obsidian palace. Strangely, Percy didn't feel a sense of dread, but instead an odd air of nostalgia. "Wow… _this_ brings me back…" he said wistfully; he thought fondly of those simpler days, if only in an ironic sense. After learning what he did, and after realizing the true gravity of his lifestyle, Percy found himself envious of his younger self's effortless stupidity.

Bianca, on the other hand, felt an incredible unease; she didn't belong here and she wasn't welcome. She was aware of that fact at least. "You've been here before?" she found herself asking, mostly to try and get her mind off of where they were.

"That he has," a condescendingly smug voice and presence surrounded them. Hades was felt more so than seen, as if lurking within every corner of this place.

Percy scowled at the throne before them. He wouldn't let himself be pushed around. He recalled what Daedalus had told him, hoping it wasn't a lie. " _He's the weakest of the three,"_ Percy assured himself, willing his heartrate to lower. "What? Afraid of a few demigods?"

"Ooh, trust me; the girl is _definitely_ someone to be frightened of," he assured. "You wouldn't believe how easy it is to set her off, too," he claimed, causing Bianca to try and ignore him, becoming distant. She tried to drown out his voice, even if it meant retreating into her own head and hearing the voices of those she's hurt and those she's called upon. "Just one little slip up, and then _poof_ , your life would be over before she even realized what she was doing."

"I know of her power," Percy said, putting a hand on her shoulder and jerking her out of her thoughts from his touch. "And I trust her to control them," Percy said. "She's worked hard to come back to where she has; I _have_ to trust her after all of it."

"Oh yes; the 'mighty' Ghost King worked _very_ hard. She must've honed her powers day after day. Her sword skills must be truly refined with that little toothpick of hers," he mocked, clearly bashing her for her lack of experience.

Percy himself regarded Bianca as a dangerous opponent, but it wasn't due to her own skills, per se. She was naturally dangerous, both from her own exceptional talent and reflexes, and especially because of the demonic nature of her powers; just a single touch of her blade would cause your immortal soul to be absorbed into its essence…freaky.

"I…" Bianca seemed squeamish.

"Do not speak, wretch," Hades interrupted, making her flinch. Percy's fist tightened; this reminded him far too much of his previous relationship with his father.

"Hey, hey, this is between you and me, asshole," Percy insulted the god, making him get an unattractive glare of his own. He likely was as used to be insulted as Poseidon was being called 'dude'. "You know why we're here."

"…"

"If you try and stop us; I'm going to kill you," Percy threatened. He figured the threat wouldn't mean all that much, but it got across that Percy _was_ willing to fight to the death with a god, unlike the last time he met the lord of the Underworld.

"You may go," Hades said finally. "But the Ghost Kind stays."

Bianca's form twitched. She began rubbing the tips of her thumb and fingers together. She didn't want to stay, but she was frightened of what Hades would do if she disobeyed. "She'll decide that for herself."

"I am her father," Hades insisted. "She is mine to do with as I will."

"But you're not her mind that can think for itself," Percy returned.

"Pah!" Hades scoffed. "You truly think she has the agency to make decisions? I have watched her carefully. Every move she's made since her 'recovery' has been at the behest of someone else. She is driven by base desires and survival."

Bianca flinched. In all but the rarest of cases, he was right. Percy said to be friends with Winona, he'd said to stay at the base camp, he'd said to do recon on the Titans.

Percy grabbed Bianca's hand reassuringly. "Then you obviously haven't been looking hard enough," he claimed.

"I-I don't…want to be here…" Bianca found herself confused at the tininess of her voice, so quiet and timid that it was barely heard. "I want to…go back to where the sun shines on me every day."

Hades seemed disappointed by those words, his next words bitter. "Don't become too close to the sun," he advised. "If you do," his eyes flashed with power, as if seeing when she would die. "You'll burn up…and perish."

Bianca stood there for a moment, postulating those words like they had some meaning other than an empty threat, which is what Percy took it as, before turning and leaving of her own accord. Percy turned to follow her out.

"You believe me a monster?" he heard Hades say from behind him. Percy turned back just enough to see a shocking degree of pain in the god's eyes. "You believe I am irredeemable?"

Percy was about to ask 'why do you care what I think', but he didn't, finding the sorrow too familiar to make light of it. Percy could usually feel a strange admiration for demigods coming from Hades, despite his smarm, as most gods tended to not care about them all that much until they were needed. Hades said he _watched_ Bianca, like he cared and was perhaps saddened by what he saw had happened to her, or at least that's what Percy took from that statement.

Percy told the truth. "If I did think that then I'd be a hypocrite, given how far I've come," he said. Hades didn't react to those words. Percy was tempted to try and convince him to join the fight, but then he'd really be pushing his luck. Instead, he let Hades share a few last words of his own.

"…She is dangerous," he said. "That's good for you, because she trusts you. I will teach her how to block out the sun with her darkness."

Percy's expression hardened. Already he was debating whether or not to even have Bianca speak to this guy again. Then he recalled his own father; he'd _needed_ to confront him. Bianca needs to do so as well, Percy felt. This odd melancholy that had surrounded her since her time in the Underworld was weighing too heavily on his mind for him to ignore it any longer.

Without responding, Percy left, following Bianca out and then following her further to the River Styx. "Well, here we are," Bianca said, gesturing to the river. Percy felt unnerved about being so close to it. Normally when close to a body of water, he felt relaxed, but the silky quality of the Styx, along with the moans of the deceased around him just put him off.

He found himself shaking, terrified. He'd been fully prepared to do this at some point, but now that he was here…

"…Do you know what it'll be like?" he wondered, his bangs shrouding his eyes.

"…I've heard stories," Bianca said. "That it's the worst pain a mortal can endure and a hundred times more."

"…I've already felt that," Percy assured himself. "…If I go in there…will I still be the same me?" he wondered. It was an irrational fear, but being possessed by a warrior spirit wouldn't be the strangest thing that could happen.

Bianca didn't respond, instead being fixated on a small flame that represented a soul. Unlike others who she came near, this one was attracted to her, despite her Stygian Iron blade. She held her hand out and willed it to form, making it appear as a man who looked not four years older than Percy. He wore traditional Greek battle gear; light armor, and wielded a short sword and a standard-issue shield.

"Who's this?" Percy questioned, wondering if he was aware of himself. It turned out that he was.

"I am Achilles," he answered, his voice sounded less gruff than Percy had imagined. "I have heard tales of the Greek's new 'greatest hero'," he gestured to Percy, with both distain and pride in his eyes at the same time.

Despite himself, Percy smiled dryly, amused. "Oh, is that what they call me down here?"

"And on Olympus," Achilles returned, arching an eyebrow when he saw Percy's reaction. "I have also heard of his disrespect. I can see at least one rumor was accurate."

"Achilles, warrior of Agamemnon," Bianca addressed him, obviously trying to show respect for the dead. "Why did you come? Your place is in Elysium."

Achilles stuck his astral spear into the sand and leaned on it, despite the softness of the sand that would've caused the spear to come loose. "I came because this is a foolish idea."

"It's not the stupidest I've participated in," Percy commented, crossing his arms.

"Then a fool you are indeed," the Greek hero mocked. "But if you are to do this, then prepare yourself."

"I'm ready," Percy said a bit too quickly, stepping toward the river.

"No," Achilles held out his arm. "You are not."

"And who's to say that?"

"I am," Achilles claimed. "Think carefully, hero. This is called a curse for ample reason."

"Maybe so, but I _need_ this power," Percy insisted. "You know me, so you have to know what's going on. My power isn't enough to overcome the Titans."

The dead man raised another eyebrow, looking through Percy thoroughly. "I'm not so sure," he said simply.

"Well, I am," Percy, unintentionally, shakiness audible in his voice as he remembered his battle with Atlas, one which he had to pray wouldn't repeat itself. "I've fought too many monsters to count, but the Titans are on a whole other level. Even with one of their weakest, Prometheus, I was at the farthest reaches of my powers."

"That fear is unbecoming of a hero," Achilles claimed.

"No, it's _because_ of my fear that I can be a hero, _her_ hero," Percy said without thinking. "Without fear, without danger, standing up to fight would be meaningless."

Bianca's jaw nearly dropped. Since she could remember, he'd denied being a hero, even just twelve hours ago, he had. Now, Percy himself had to process what he'd said. Achilles seemed pleased with himself, as if this had been a test.

"…Very well," he announced. "I allow you to take my curse."

"You…allow…?" Percy didn't get a chance to question as Achilles explained.

"Once you are submerged, the curse with sear into your skin. You must focus your mind on two things. First, a spot for the curse to not affect. This armor may be powerful, but there must always be a chink in it. It can be the heel, it can be the forehead. Second, an anchor. In doing this, you blur the line between man and god. To accept this, you must have an anchor to the mortal world. It could be a memento, a commitment, or a significant other. It needs to be personal, and sacred to you."

Percy nodded, wading into the water. It felt odd, almost draining. It was as if he could feel the soul of the dead slithering by him like grass or fish. Percy waded further, up to his shoulders. The further he got, the more doubts entered his mind.

What if he wasn't focused enough? What if his anchor wasn't personal enough? What if he couldn't handle the pain? Percy shook his head, trying to ward off those thoughts, but they returned quickly. " _This is the Styx,"_ Percy thought. " _Trying to ward me off; it's just another test."_

The thought wasn't much assurance, even as Percy stumbled into a drop-off, and he was sent below the surface.

It didn't feel like he was underwater. Instantly, an indescribable pain entered every inch of Percy's body, from his skin to his heart and everything in between. Just from the sensory overload, Percy found it to be nearly impossible to think at all, let alone focus on a specific thing.

Percy caught glimpses of his skin as it began glowing a golden color, radiating power, but he was too in shock from the agony to truly notice. Even his lungs were on fire, and unlike normal water, he couldn't breathe here. Voices entered his mind, the voices of those souls wandering in this river. They were sad, sharing their depressing thoughts and dropping Percy's morale even lower.

" _Find an anchor!"_ he screamed in his head frantically. " _Something! Anything!"_

He began thrashing around, silently begging for the pain to stop, but in fact it was getting worse. He felt the owl pendant beat against his chest as he writhed. He, for a brief moment, thought to use that as an anchor, but he couldn't focus on it long enough.

Maybe Riptide? Percy tried to focus his thoughts, wishing that the damned blade would speak to him, but it was silent, and gods! This pain was unbearable.

Black dots from the pain clouded what little vision he had, and he couldn't see the surface anymore. The feeling terrified him. The fear instantly brought back memories of Atlas, of Prometheus, of that heart-wrenching face Annabeth made when he told her he was staying inside Mount Saint-Helens.

Suddenly, everything stopped. The pain, the lack of breath, the black dots; gone. He found himself back in that moment, seeing that anguished look on her face, frozen in time. "…I'm sorry," he whispered as tears of his own welled up upon seeing her. "I wish…I wish I could spend the rest of my life with you…that's what all this is for," he reached up and put a hand on her cheek, wiping at the dirt and grime that had been there. It didn't wipe with his finger. She just kept on staring, shedding tears. Percy closed his eyes tightly, his teeth clenched so he didn't let out cries of his own. "…I don't care what happens to Olympus. I don't care if I'm their hero. It doesn't matter to me anymore. I…wonder…? Am I a hero to you? Can I live up to that, at least, after all of my failures?" he opened his eyes. He found himself now in a black void, with Annabeth standing across from him.

She was smiling, her hands behind her back. It was odd; she looked older, like by a whole year it looked like. She wore her usual Camp Half-Blood shirt, but was wearing a thin, navy-blue jacket over top. She also wore a distinctive gray beanie on her head. It looked like it fit her perfectly, and it looked well cared for, and well loved.

Percy couldn't be sure if this was a hallucination induced by tortuous pain, or if he was seeing a vision; with Greek myths, it could be either or and Percy would believe it. Either way, she answered.

"You can," her voice was wise and confident.

Hearing those words signaled a wave of strength to run through Percy's body.

"I don't believe our destinies are set. I don't believe we're beholden to a script. I don't know what lies ahead, if tragedy awaits, or glory. I don't know if we'll perish. But I know that my voice will reach you, and I know that our destinies are intertwined. So I make my choice to walk evermore onward along the path we share," she said. "Will you walk alongside me, Percy?"

Annabeth disappeared, and the Styx returned. The pain returned as well, but it felt duller. His mind was sharper, able to focus on a single spot; that scar on his neck. What happened next was a blur in Percy's mind, but the next thing he knew, he'd surfaced and felt ground underneath his feet.

Percy waded out of the water, meeting Bianca and Achilles.

Percy looked at his hands, not seeing the glow from before. He _was_ glowing, right? "Well?" Bianca asked, getting his attention. "How do you feel?" she wondered. She looked at his soul; it'd been clouded from her vision while he bathed in the Styx, and now emerged more refined. It gave off a more subtle light; it wasn't as pervasive as some other powerful souls.

"…Taller," he claimed.

" _Was that an intentional reference?"_ Riptide wondered.

" _To Captain America?"_ Percy guessed. " _No_."

Achilles ignored the comment as he explained about the curse. "Think not that you've instantly gained unlimited power. There are a few caveats to this newfound strength, hero," he said. "First off, the invulnerability is useless against immortals."

Percy had been fearful of that, but with this newfound confidence and strength, it seemed less important than it seemed.

"Second, while your strength, speed, and reflexes have increased to a fault, they are not fully what the curse gives you. To access that, you must intentionally call on its power. Believe me, hero, you will know when the power is there. Be wary, however; using the curse's full capabilities drains stamina quickly. Only utilize it when absolutely necessary. Also note; this does not make you some kind of a god, figuratively. While you will outclass most of those of your own kind, your maximum, physically, can only go so far."

"So I can't move at the speed of light," Percy translated. Achilles quickly put it into perspective.

"Imagine the curse as forcing your body to become as physically capable as it will ever be. With your current conditioning, of course it would drain your energy to be _that_ good."

"But I can work up to it normally?"

"Eventually…if you survive," Achilles noted.

"And I'm invulnerable when it comes to monsters, right?"

"Except in your Achilles Heel, yes," the dead hero confirmed. "And one final caveat: this ability can only take effect where the gods reside. For me, it was Greece. For you, this America."

"Wait, the continent or the US?" Percy questioned, to which Achilles simply shrugged.

"Should you step foot outside of the gods' domain, then the curse will be lifted, taken, permanently," his voice made it sound like it would hurt. "It would be a thousand times worse than what you just experienced.

Percy grimaced; there went his plans to take Annabeth to Paris for next Valentine's Day. He shook his head; no time for distractions.

"Thank you," Percy said to the specter, expecting him to start fading, but he didn't. Confused, Percy got suspicious. "…You still want to tell us something?"

"Some information that could prove useful. A while back, another demigod came down here for the curse. Like you, he succeeded," he said. "He had a scar that ran down his face like a teardrop."

Percy's lips tucked into a frown. "Luke," he said the man's name with melancholy as Achilles' form faded, and his soul wandered off. His first thoughts were wrong. "Wonder what his anchor is…?"

He should've thought about the implications of Luke gaining the Achilles Curse along with hosting Kronos inside his body, adding to his physical might on top of that. Instead, Percy couldn't help but feel sympathy for the man having to endure it, and a longing to convince his friend to return to his side, even against Annabeth's wishes.

Percy shook his head again. "I need to go," Percy said.

"Yeah, let's head back to-" Bianca started.

"No, _I_ need to go," Percy said again. Bianca stiffened, quickly figuring out what Percy was about to ask of her. "…You're not gonna like this. I need you to try and convince Hades to help us."

"…"

"This could be huge, Bianca," Percy claimed. "And…" he turned away. "…I know this is selfish, but I need to fight Atlas. I need to…I don't know…prove something to myself."

"…Why do we need him?" Bianca asked quietly. "I don't want to…" she trailed off.

"Bianca…please…"

"H-he…he might take my blindfold again…not let me get it back…" her voice was shaking. "…I don't…I don't know if I can come back again from that…thing that I became…"

"You can," Percy assured, finding his own confidence surprising. "You're the Ghost King, remember? You didn't get that from being weak," he put a hand on her shoulder. "I believe in you."

" _That can only get her so far,"_ Riptide mentioned.

" _Well, what else am I supposed to tell her?"_

"… _you got me there,"_ it conceded.

The daughter of Hades recalled Annabeth's words that morning. " _You used to let your heart speak a lot back then…"_

Bianca took a deep breath. "…I'll do it."

Percy smiled. "Thank you. I'll be forever in your debt if you pull it off," he said, starting to walk off. "Oh, and Bianca?"

"Y-yes?"

"…You can't be afraid all your life. Those powers are yours; so starting making them your own."

With that, Percy returned to the base, getting Cerberus to shadow-travel him back to New York. He got some weird looks from the demigods there, but once Cerberus left, everyone went back to their business.

It had been longer than he'd expected, with sunset already past. Did the battle already happen? No, it couldn't have. There wouldn't be this dread that hung over the camp as they anticipated it.

Percy's first stop; the war room, as he overheard that the Titan Army was beginning to mobilize.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Not even gonna proofread this because I'm got some queso (the Mexican cheese dip stuff) to eat.**

 **Real quick, I'm gonna take a three or four day break after chapter 58 just to finish writing this book so I can get it out to you guys consistently for that final push. It's looking like 63 chapters is gonna be the end. Hype!**

 **Don't forget to let me know what you guys thought, as always, in a review!**


	58. Something Worth Fighting For

Percy entered the war room to intensity. Annabeth and the Athena cabin were bouncing ideas off of Zoë and the Hunters in terms of strategy. At least, they were, until he walked in.

Winona was the first to notice him, and she looked almost afraid. In seconds, silence crept in as eyes bore into him, distant; they were intimidated and yet he felt no different.

" _It's because you're scowling,"_ Riptide mentioned. Percy hadn't even realized. He attempted to soften his features, but given the gravity of the situation, he thought it might actually be best if he kept the scowl; more got done when no one was arguing with him.

"They're ready?" he questioned, stepping up to the map of the city.

"Mobilizing at the Queensboro Bridge," someone answered.

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Not the Queens-Midtown Tunnel?"

A Demeter girl raised her hand. "We blocked that off with our plants, all the way through. If they try through there, we'd know and torch them before they made it through."

"Which they'll have anticipated," Percy said.

"I'm betting they'll make their way to Park Avenue; go for a straight shot down to 34th."

"…" Percy didn't reply, just listened to their ideas.

"I say we kite them from a distance," Thalia proclaimed. "Get Hunters or bow-users to draw small packs off for a larger ambush. While those at the front may not be willing to leave Atlas, those in the back just might; we lure them away to be slaughtered."

"We will not be able to kill them all in that manner," Zoë noted. "We need to make a point of no return."

"When Park meets 34th," Percy suggested. The others were wary to that idea.

"That's awfully close to here…" Katie Gardner mentioned.

"We need to thin their numbers as much as possible before we clash directly. We saw what trying to take them on at full strength led to," Percy said harshly. A somber air returned.

"Then what if we increase the distance that they have to travel?" Annabeth wondered. The others looked at her, confused. She pointed to a Hunter. "Bring me one of the spheres from the chest behind you," she ordered and was obeyed. Annabeth tossed the ball up and down casually. "The Hephaestus cabin really is amazing…" she said.

"What is that?" Percy wondered.

"It's a bomb," she said, catching it again. Most of the group lurched backwards, reeling away from the danger. "It's a fire bomb; we have around fifty of these suckers ready to go."

"And…what are we gonna do with them?" Percy wondered, figuring that she wouldn't just say to toss them as the enemy. If they began pelting them with firebombs, they'd scatter, which would make picking them off more dangerous, slower, and more tiring (which they couldn't afford, given how they were outmanned ten to one), and it would risk them running into an area where the sleeping mortals haven't been hidden, making for unnecessary deaths.

"These have a blast radius greater than the whole width of Park avenue," Annabeth claimed. "Monsters are as vulnerable to Greek fire, what these produce, as they are to Celestial Bronze; Atlas won't take the chance of squandering his troops, and will take a different route. Like…" she took a pencil and drew a random, convoluted path from the bridge to the intersection that Percy suggested. "This would give us more time to lure smaller groups away and pick them off."

"Atlas will catch on," Zoë claimed, shivering at the thought of the Titan.

"Yeah, probably," Annabeth admitted before giving a confident smirk. "But by then he'll only have a third of his original numbers."

"Why don't we just chuck them straight at the army?" Travis asked. "If they're as good as you say…"

"Because there are fellow demigods in that army, maybe hundreds of them, some no older then twelve," Annabeth said. "I'd rather not shed their blood, if we can help it."

"Plus," Percy added. "Say you sent one right in the middle; Atlas' half at the front would attack, and then there would be a surge of reinforcements trailing behind. We'd be at a major disadvantage, because we wouldn't be able to out-flank their army until that second wave hit, and by then it would probably be too late. Best let them come as a whole, so we can plan around that."

Zoë stood. "Who stands to fight?"

Percy looked to Annabeth; she'd know the state of the campers better than him since he's been away the whole day. However, it wasn't her that spoke first. "You can count the Ares cabin out," eyes turned to Sherman, who had his cheek torn open during the Battle of Williamsburg Bridge. Percy was surprised he was speaking. His cabinmates, and him, looked ashamed to say it.

Percy stood up straighter. "Sherman; we _need_ the Ares cabin. You're our-"

"You must think I'm an idiot if you expect me and my brothers to fight for you again," he spat. "We lost six. Six of thirty, including our counselor, our leader. What did you lose?" he questioned. Percy set his jaw. "We stay."

"That cowardice would revolt Clarisse, if she were here."

"She was a fool for ever believing in you," Sherman said before he and his cabinmates left the meeting. A brief, tense silence followed.

"…Right, then," Zoë clapped her hands, like she was shaking them out of a trance. "Counselors, stay with us. The rest of you, go prepare for battle. We will assign who goes where in the meantime."

Most of the group shuffled out, leaving the counselors. The decisions weren't very difficult. Hephaestus, Dionysus, and Demeter cabins would throw the bombs at signaled times and locations. The Apollo cabin, including the medics, would help the Hunters kite, while the rest oof the cabins participated in the ambushes, led by the Athena cabin.

"I think once they make it past 42nd, we should regroup at 34th," Percy said. "That's enough time to get back, right?"

"It will have to work," Zoë said grimly. "By now, I would imagine Atlas is ready to cross the bridge. We need to get out there. Thankfully, with such a large force, he will have difficulty shifting direction or tactic, in addition to moving more slowly than our forces."

The group nodded, with most departing, save for Annabeth and Percy. "…You coming?" Percy wondered, ready to aid her in battle, properly this time.

Annabeth took a deep breath; she'd considered her answer long before she was asked the question. "…No. Tonight, I stay here."

If Percy were drinking something, he'd have spit it out. "W-what?!" he demanded, more confused than anything. "I thought-"

"Percy, we both know it's for the best," she said somewhat solemnly. "If I go out there with you, you'll just worry over me. It's not your fault; it's what's cute about you," she assured, taking another deep breath. "…But if I can do this, and make it so you can do the impossible, then I think that'll be okay for now," she said, harkening back to Percy's first vow to her. She smiled. "Sound good?"

"Y-yeah…" Percy said hesitantly, still feeling awful about Annabeth even having to make this sacrifice. She'd want to be out there, fighting monsters with him. He wouldn't care either, if it was just monsters. But these were the Titans, this was _Atlas_ ; in truth, only exceptionally strong demigods, physically, could stand up to them. Annabeth's strengths lay elsewhere.

"But," she put a caveat, her voice taking on a dangerous edge. "If I hear that you get into trouble, or if things go south and I can hear it, I'm _going_ to help you."

Percy blinked; it sounded like she was threatening him. "Um…"

"Just…try not to get to that point, okay?"

The son of Poseidon nodded, giving her a kiss on the cheek, before taking his leave.

xxxXXXxxx

Percy met Zoë at the corner of Park and 34th. There, he saw a group of their best fighters gathered for battle, all wearing Greek-style armor. Percy should've put some on, but he'd hesitated. He had the Achilles Curse; he no longer needed armor, and it would've slowed him down against Atlas anyway.

Zoë regarded Percy curtly as she gave specific orders to individual Hunters and groups of demigods. Once the final group set off, she acknowledged Percy directly. "We will need the same people ambushing multiple times if we want to make a decent dent in the Titan Army," she said. Percy nodded. "Your campers are already placed onto the rooftops, with the help of my Hunters," she continued, obviously trying to distract herself. "…" she waited, but Percy just looked out toward where he knew Atlas was making a beeline for them. "Well?'

"…Aren't you afraid?" he asked her finally.

Zoë seemed as if she hadn't expected the question. "I…yes, I am," she answered. "I am afraid that he will have the strength to take control of me once again. Truthfully, I believe it would be best if I retreated for this battle, leaving Thalia and my Hunters to-"

"No!" Percy grabbed her wrist. "No, you can't," he claimed.

Zoë looked to the boy with puzzled eyes, her crescent moon highlights reflecting in the twilight. "…Alright…then I will stay."

Percy let go of her hand. "…I don't know if I can do this…" he admitted, raising his own hand to look at it. He found it shaking. He'd been able to keep his mind off of the inevitable thus far, but now that the assault was happening, the reality of it fully affected him. "When I think about facing him again, I just…" Freeze up. Just like the last time.

"Well, it looks to me like you do not have a choice in the matter," Zoë replied, trying to sound casual, even as she was feeling the exact same thing. The comment didn't help Percy's mood. Zoë put a hand on his shoulder. "Do you still have that keepsake I gave you?" she wondered. Percy nodded, showing it from under his jacket. It seemed to glow as the moon rose. Seeing it brought a rush of nostalgia to Zoë. She smiled. "Keep it close. It will help you; _I_ will help you."

Percy took a deep breath. "…Then I'll help you too."

"He must fall by our hands if this is to mean anything," Zoë continued. "I believe we can manage that."

Percy nodded, feeling a bit more confidence from Zoë's reassurance. "Can I ask something of you, then?" he wondered.

"Of course."

"…If things start to go south, like if you take a bad hit or if I go down…I want you to retreat, and pull everyone back to Camp Half-Blood."

Zoë gave him a hard stare. "You would see me flee?"

"I would see you survive," Percy corrected. "I'm not losing another Artemis because I wasn't good enough…and I'm not losing the camp today either."

Zoë nodded, even though she didn't look happy to be obliging. The two looked north, they could only hope that the plan went well.

xxxXXXxxx

Silena wasn't sure what thought process ended with her approaching the Ares tent after everyone else had already left. Whatever it was, she stepped inside, hoping her past relationship with the cabin, a good one, would mean something. On one hand, it did; she wasn't immediately thrown out. On the other, she was treated with the same level of distain and disgust as with the others.

" _Stop thinking so negatively,"_ she reminded herself. She'd taken the dead girl's words to heart somewhat. She was already branded a traitor; what harm would come from trying to make the best of it? That's what Charlie would've wanted…oh, Charlie…

Silena blinked back tears as she strode up to Sherman, trying to look more confident than she felt. But gods, that gash…it looked like it'd been ripped open by hand… "You need to go help the others," she said, her voice small and meek. " _Blast!_ " she cursed herself. He barely gave her a passing glance. "You need to go help them," she repeated, forcing her voice to sound stronger. She willed her appearance to be more imposing, demanding more respect. Sherman didn't seem to notice, so Silena's powers must've been in as piss-poor condition as her self-esteem was. "Please!"

"Go away," he returned, his voice hoarse. It sounded as if he'd been screaming into his pillow for the past hour. Knowing the Ares' cabin's hatred of weakness, and the display he showed earlier, it wouldn't have surprised the daughter of Aphrodite. "If they went, we'd be slaughtered. If I don't-"

"Then the others _will_ be," Silena interrupted. "Please, Sherman; I've seen you be brave, braver than most. Where is that now?"

"It got lost on the way back from the Williamsburg Bridge," the boy growled. "Go away," he ordered. Silena looked for any help from the others, but they looked just as dejected as their new counselor.

" _Gods, were they so reliant on Clarisse's vigor?"_ Silena wondered. Well, soldiers tended to be swayed by the emotions and actions of their superiors, to a degree. But this?

"What do you want me to do? I'll do anything if you'd just help them!"

"Get out of my tent, you filthy _traitor_!" Sherman roared. Silena flinched back at the word. The girl hung her head, not daring to look any of them in the eye any longer. She slowly shuffled out of the tent.

" _I tried…"_ she thought for a moment, trying to find some relief in that knowledge. "…But…there's nothing…"she said, holding her hand to her breast. "Nothing for me here, after all…"

xxxXXXxxx

Thalia and a group of two other Hunters hid behind a building corner, waiting for Atlas and his personal retinue to pass their position. She was a block away from where a Greek fire bomb had been thrown, and still she felt the heat as if she were inches from the flames. She found herself grinning; even Atlas' bull-headed approach wasn't going to risk so much loss to them. He'd turned exactly as Annabeth had planned.

She couldn't wait to drive her spear straight into his…

Thalia's grin faded. " _No…"_ she thought. " _This is their fight,"_ she realized. Well, if she couldn't fight Atlas herself, she'd make damn sure that no one got in the way of their revenge. Even if she had to block the enemy arrows with her own body, she'd gladly do it to see Atlas fall, after all of the grief he caused, no, _causes_ Zoë.

"Waiting for the signal," a fellow Hunter reminded her. Thalia shook out of her trance; her grin had turned to a scowl, more of determination than anything. The daughter of Zeus nodded, summoning her bow. While she wasn't as practiced as the others, she wouldn't need to be for this shot.

She pivoted around the corner and shot a random monster in the side of the head, causing it to explode into dust. A few others turned to see her. Thalia feigned surprise, and then grinned sheepishly. She doubted they'd smell her as a powerful demigod from this far away, and seeing how it was apparently just her, the monsters assumed she'd be easy pickings.

A group of seven or eight came to tear her apart. Thalia dashed back behind the corner, gesturing for her sisters to fall into place. " _Quiet,"_ she told herself, waiting for that first hideous sight to turn the corner. She notched three arrows, as her sisters did the same.

The monsters came all at once, and Thalia let her arrows loose, trusting the other Hunters to follow suit. It an instant, the Hunters were alone again. Thalia would end up doing this eight more times, each time drawing in one of two more monsters than the last. None of the rogue demigods fell for this, and Thalia made a point not to target them; she figured they deserved a second chance, as she'd been given.

Thalia regrouped, after almost an hour and a half of traps, with other Hunters who'd been scouring the rooftops for aerial monsters as well as to check with the campers who'd been laying down Greek fire bombs. The Titan Army was nearly to the point of no return. "Gather the Hunters," Thalia ordered to a few of them. "Tell them to meet at the rendezvous point for the full assault. Tell them to collect as many quirk arrows as possible as they go, but not to deviate from the direct path," The Hunters nodded and took off. Thalia had a group of thirty Hunters and Apollo campers with her. "Our group is too large to travel without alerting them. I want half to go down sixth and the other half with me on the rooftops. Phoebe, you lead ground," she ordered, and they quickly went to work. It was nice, having people that did as they were told.

Then again, this type of person wasn't one to change the tide of battle, not like the stand-outs. Percy, Annabeth, Bianca…Thalia would say Clarisse as well, but…

" _Best keep yourself focused,"_ she thought, starting up the wall after hooking her magic grapple to the top. She looked down, seeing a tight formation of campers and Hunters dashing through the now-night. She was impressed and proud of them, strangely.

Before, she'd despised the Hunters of Artemis with as much passion and fervor as the rest of Camp Half-Blood, especially Zoë. However, after that single winter…it was as if Thalia had walked into the light for the first time in her life. Yes, joining the Hunters had been a split-second, reckless, selfish decision, but even now she felt it was the right one.

Percy had overcome his short-comings in spectacular fashion, but more importantly, Thalia and Zoë had gotten to do something special. It was slow, even with Zoë herself, but they'd broken down the glass barrier between the campers and Hunters. No long were the Hunters about being 'better' than the campers, or some such nonsense. Now, it was a caring group, and the campers, surprisingly, had reciprocated those feelings in little time.

Thalia swung and leapt across rooftops, keeping in step with her Hunters as they neared the intersection of Park Avenue and 34th Street. She froze, seeing a figure in the distance, standing on the corner of a building. His blade glowed golden.

"Everything okay?" a camper asked, seeing the daughter of sky lock up. She shook her head.

"Y-yeah…go on ahead. I'll catch up," she said. The others looked skeptical, but did as told.

Just a moment later, Thalia was standing on the same roof as the figure; a man, taller than her, with a faintly glowing body. He looked good, all things considered, but when he turned to look at her, his scar seemed far more apparent than before. His eyes were almost completely golden, save for a small ring of blue around his pupils.

"…Thalia," he addressed her, with little emotion in his voice. Yes, it was _his_ voice, alone.

"Luke…?" she wasn't sure what to say, but she had her spear at the ready. "What are you-" she stopped herself. "Stupid question; you're here to help Atlas?"

Thalia was wrong, and the old Luke would've chuckled at that, but this one didn't, just shifted his gaze back down to his army, as it approached the gathered demigod force. Compared to the Titan Army, the demigods looked like rabbits. Thalia wasn't particularly worried about the numbers, however; compared to what it was before the traps, this was nothing. Besides, she knew that the demigods were led by a wolf, an alpha who'd protect them. Heck, they were all ferocious like the beasts.

"I'm not here to fight, but I will if I have to," he said.

"When your army falls?"

"No, I don't care about that," he said. "If Atlas gets the better of Percy…then I'll have to step in."

Thalia was skeptical; why would Kronos want Percy alive? Unless… "The Great Prophecy," she said. It needed a child of the big three to turn eighteen, and Percy was seventeen until midnight tonight. That was Kronos' chance to ultimately either sway him to his side, or blackmail him. But it didn't add up. "Why don't you just go up to Olympus now, if you're going to be stealthy about watching?"

"Kronos isn't going to repeat the same mistakes from before; he won't try and get around the prophecy," he said, taking a seat, letting his legs swing off the side a bit. "…Come. Watch with me?"

" _Not 'Lord' Kronos?"_ was Thalia's first thought, before frowning. "And let my sisters die as I watch? No way. I'm going to go down there and tear that army of yours apart!" she exclaimed.

Luke looked back at her briefly. His eyes conveyed a sense of melancholy, but they were also pleading. The rest of his face showed nothing, however. "…Alright," he said, looking back to the conflict. "Then I'll be watching you as well, daughter of sky."

Thalia grunted and walked forward…but hesitated. "…Why isn't Kronos in control?" she questioned.

"…"

"Have you…gotten free of him?"

"He's allowed me tonight," Luke claimed. "I think…I think it'll be my final night to see the sky with my own eyes. After tomorrow…I will finally become one with Kronos," he said, though it lacked the grandeur and passion such a prospect once had.

"You don't sound very happy about it," she said, though he didn't respond.

"I heard you asked the daughter of Hades a favor," he said. "It was one of the last things I heard from camp, actually. I may have boasted about the number of spies, but it was actually just Silena," he explained, as if finally being able to tell a punchline after setting up for four years.

"Why do you care?"

"Because you're my friend," he answered. Inside that statement, there was a hint of what Luke used to be; a good man.

"…I…asked her to find my brother. He disappeared when I was young."

"…And?"

"…He wasn't there," Thalia said resoundingly, shifting her gaze away from him.

"…That's not all there is to it," Luke claimed. Thalia blinked; Luke could still read her too well. It unsettled her; part of the reason she never accepted his advances on her while they were younger. "You asked her something else when that didn't pan out."

Thali hesitated. "I…I asked her…I asked her when I was gonna die," Thalia admitted. She didn't ask because she was afraid. She'd already died once. This second life was, ultimately, one that would end as well. It was a shame, but she'd had to come to peace with it.

"I wasn't aware that children of Hades could-"

"Neither did I, but it was all I could think of. She gave me an answer though, saying that she could see it in my soul. Tomorrow night; August 18th."

Luke cracked a smile. "Then join me," he repeated. "Let's enjoy our last night together."

It felt so wrong to agree, but Thalia did it anyway. She put her faith in Percy and Zoë. They were far stronger than she could ever hope to be. She felt she should at least go back to base and protect Annabeth in case things went south, but instead, Thalia found herself sitting side-by-side with the host of the Lord of the Titans.

"…Look at us…" he said finally, seeing the two forces grow closer and closer. "Still sitting above everyone else. We lead, but not as part of them."

"Reminds you of the streets," Thalia guessed. "…I never got the chance to tell you this, but…what happened…to the others, wasn't your fault. At the time, you couldn't have known about the scent or any of that stuff."

"…I should've been stronger," Luke whispered.

" _We_ should've been stronger," Thalia corrected. "If we were…maybe we'd be on the same side right now."

"Well," Luke shrugged. "Time isn't just a line. It's infinite. There's likely to be a different timeline where that happened. What I wouldn't give to be living that right now…" he said wistfully, almost…sorrowful.

"I wish I could see that life, if just for a moment."

Luke chuckled, the sound; hollow. "I have…" he whispered. Thalia looked over, seeing tears streaming down from his eyes. "…I've seen them all…" he choked out.

Thalia was shocked, speechless at this display of emotion. But she couldn't say anything. Not to that, not to him. It was too late for him; he was given a second, third, fourth chance to redeem himself, and he denied them.

This was the path he'd chosen.

xxxXXXxxx

Percy and Zoë awaited the Titan Army, dreading the inevitable as more and more of the teams regrouped with them. Then, when the army was in sight, Percy found himself shaking. "He's there…" he muttered.

"Indeed," Zoë said, sounding confident, despite her feeling perhaps more anxiety than the son of Poseidon. "Are you afraid?"

"…Yes," he said.

"Good. Leap over that fear; be a hero, Percy."

"…That's not what a hero does," he said, calming his nerves as he solidified his resolve. "A hero faces it head-on, so those behind him won't have to. _That's_ what I'll do."

Zoë raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps it is a matter of perspective, then," she concluded. She probably had a different definition of a 'hero', but Percy didn't particularly care. He had his way, and he was going to stick to it, no matter what.

"My daughter!" Atlas' roar was heard as he approached, the two armies meeting about thirty yards away from each other.

"Atlas…" Percy's fear returned in a wave, despite his resolve. That stony cold voice had shifted to …it almost sounded like that of a madman. His inflection still gave Percy the creeps, but now it was as if he were drunk, or…angry. The thought that this monster could feel anything, especially fury, shook Percy to his very core.

" _Stop shaking!"_ Riptide ordered. " _As long as I'm with you, you aren't_ allowed _to show weakness, you hear?"_

Hearing the voice in his head annoyed Percy, but it also calmed him slightly. Atlas regarded him briefly. "And the spider, back again. Tell me, though, where is the daughter of the dead? I do so wish to pay her back for returning me to my _eternal imprisonment_ …" his voice became dangerously quiet for those last two words.

"She is safe; far out of your reach, father," Zoë claimed. "You will not harm her today."

"Ah, a shame. I suppose I'll have to do it later, then. For now, this pathetic thing you call an army will do."

"To satiate your bloodlust, there is no army large enough!" Zoë summoned her bow. Atlas smirked, not at all intimidated. He held out his hand.

"Come to me, my child," he ordered, his tone returning to his calm rhythm. Zoë froze. Percy didn't get a chance to stop her before she walked out of his reach.

"Zoë! Stop it, I-" he started to go after her, but Atlas took a step. The fear returned, and this time, it paralyzed the son of Poseidon. All of the doubt that had held him since _that day_ came creeping back, wrapping around his arms so as to make them numb, his brain frantic in trying to find a way out of this situation. Every single one of his natural instincts told him to run over and deck this asshole, but his fear was overpowering. It felt like Atlas' will was controlling Percy, as well as Zoë.

" _This is what happened the last time too…"_ Percy lamented. " _Have I grown so little…?"_

Zoë made it to the enemy, and turned around robotically, seemingly completely under Atlas' control once again. Percy was about to call off the defense, and order a retreat to fight another day, but Winona stepped up.

Percy barely remembered that she wasn't supposed to be here, that she was supposed to stay behind and tend to the wounded. Instead, she came with her bow, her sword, and her head held high and firm. Her eyes were shrouded in rage and despair, opposite her usual presence. "Wait," she said quietly, stepping up next to him. Looking back, it was incredible how readily Winona took up the leadership role. After Silena's betrayal, and Clarisse and Beckendorf's deaths, she was one of the last authorities left. The Stoll's were more jokesters, Katie was a supporter, sure, but other than them… "Look at her eyes," she suggested.

Percy glanced at them; she seemed aware of her surroundings. Then maybe she'd retained some-

Zoë's form tensed as she leapt into the air, spinning and smashing her foot into the Titan of Willpower, laying a roundhouse kick directly in the face, knocking him back through his troops and announcing that the battle had commenced.

"Never again, father!" she roared as he recovered. " _Never!"_

"Tch," Atlas rubbed his chin.

The sudden shock was enough to jolt Percy out of his stiffened stupor. He raised Riptide high. "Attack!" he yelled, as two hundred other voices sounded their glory as they dashed past him. "Zoë; we need to get Atlas away from the others!"

"Right!" the goddess agreed, seeing him charge toward her. He was so single-minded, so tunnel-visioned on destroying Zoë that he didn't even care that he was crushing his own troops under his feet.

Zoë leapt away from him as he grabbed for her. Percy tore through Drachanae and other monsters like putty, making his way to her. Zoë backed up into him, Atlas right on her. They were forced to roll apart as he smashed down, creating a massive cloud of dust and rubble to burst into the air. Percy, almost without thinking, stumbled to his feet in a run, engaging the Titan.

He drove Atlas back toward Zoë, who leapt over him and shot four or five arrows into his face. They bounded off of his stone-like skin, but the impact from her godly arrows was enough to stun him for a time. "Throw him!" Percy yelled, grabbed one of his arms as Zoë did the same.

They strained, but together their power was enough to heave the Titan away from the main battle, into an alleyway. The two dashed past him, so that when he attacked, he'd be charging toward East River.

Instead of attacking, however, Atlas was heard laughing. Through his teeth, it looked like smoke or steam was coming out of his mouth. "Well…it seems I've underestimated you. Let's fix that," he dug all four of his hands into the ground and tugged.

In an instant, Atlas had ripped out and thrown a massive chunk of the street at them. He did it far faster than he should've been able to, and it looked like he did it with no effort at all. "Zoë, look out!" Percy shoved her out of the way, only to be caught himself, blasted back and smashed under the rubble. Thankfully, this attack wasn't caused directly by the Titan, so the Achilles Curse was able to keep him alive. "Come on…come on, move!" he choked, struggling to lift the street boulder. Soon, he would run out of air, being trapped under it.

Zoë quickly recovered and avoided another boulder before firing a few more arrows to distract him, at least long enough to get close. It turned out to be a huge mistake. Atlas was faster than Zoë expected, parrying her blow with his bare hands and grabbing her arms.

Zoë kicked the Titan again and again, but he wasn't fazed, instead using his two other arms to grab her ankles. "Hello, my beautiful daughter," he licked his lips, beginning to tug at her limbs. "You looked stressed."

"I will _not_ yield!" she exclaimed, trying to pull back with all of her godly and titanic might. She let out her Divine Form in a flash, and contained it just as quickly. It was just enough to make Atlas break his grip. Zoë dropped to the ground and tugged out more arrows, but Atlas recovered too fast, smashing a fist down where Zoë would've been, had she not leapt into the air to avoid it.

She notched her arrows frantically, and aimed. Atlas had leapt up after her by the time she got a shot. He rose past her before she could fire. She raised her bow to meet Atlas' smash-down hit, punching through her arrows and clashing with her bow, creating a shockwave through the air powerful enough to break the windows of the buildings around them.

Zoë was blasted down, creating a crater bigger than the street, causing some of the buildings around them to collapse a bit.

Percy shoved the boulder off of him at that moment, blasting it up into the air with a jet of self-made water, coughing up a storm as he stood, only to have a cloud of dust explode in front of him as Atlas landed. Zoë managed to roll out of the way, but that hit had made her vision spiral, her rips and back aching.

Percy shot toward Atlas, Riptide at the ready. "You're mine!" he yelled, jumping up and landing an overhead slash onto the Titan, who wasn't aware that he was back in action.

Atlas reared back, bleeding a small amount from the cut; even this small injury was unexpected. Percy didn't let up, continually blasting and slashing at Atlas as Zoë recovered. Atlas let out a frustrated growl, swiping Percy away, back to Zoë.

"We attack together," she said, her breathing already labored. "Drive him to the river, like you said."

"Got it."

The two broke into a run, Zoë altering her weapon to its bladed form, seeing as how her arrows had been of little use up to this point. Atlas stood against them; this unmoving wall of pure strength. "See if you can handle this!" they both yelled, building up their power. They knew he wouldn't try to dodge; he was too cocky, too sure that he could take it.

As they drew closer, they reared back their blades and both swung, creating a cross pattern from the afterimage of their blades. Atlas blocked the attack, but it sent him flying anyway. Or rather, it sent him skidding on the ground, his feet dragging through the street, sinking into it and creating a trail.

The two didn't let up, quickly catching up and laying into the Titan, steadily pushing him back. Whenever Atlas tried to fight back against the one attacking, the other would cover them. Percy attacked, Zoë parried. They both attacked, they both parried. A slash to the face, a blast of water to the stomach, until the river was in sight.

Percy stepped back and then charged, leaping up, leaving a trail of water behind for later, and dropkicked the Titan farther back. "Jump!" he called, getting control of his water, wrapping it around Zoë's waist, lifting her up further than her jump, swinging her around, and flinging her at the Titan so hard that it created a sonic boom when he let her go. "Zoë, go!"

Zoë reared her bow-blade back, letting out a roar as she prepared to drive it into Atlas' heart.

But that's not what happened. Out of literally nowhere, Atlas created these…discs. In all four of his hands, four heavily bladed chakrams materialized. Zoë could do nothing except take the attack. He swung back, not only parrying her attack, but slashing her with two of his four weapons; on her shoulder and down her arm, and one tearing down her side.

Golden ichor spilled out from her wounds. Percy panicked as Zoë fell, unmoving. "Zoë!" he called, taking a step toward her, but Atlas stood in front. Percy charged anyway, doing his best to get him to back off. But now, he was alone.

Atlas, with his new weapons, easily warded off his attacks, and blasted Percy to the ground. The son of Poseidon stood, only to be attacked further, a chakram digging into his shoulder. Stunned by the blow, Percy dropped Riptide and was caught, grabbed by the throat. Instantly, not only did his overwhelming fear return, but an inordinate amount of pain, like he was being dunked into a lava pool, shot throughout all of his body. Immortal or no; this was the one place that Percy could be killed by anybody.

Percy reached for Riptide, but the blade was already out of reach, and he was starting to lose air, having expended too much from adrenaline and exertion. "I believe we've been here before," Atlas said. "Now, I get to finish what I _started_ ," he squeezed harder on Percy's throat as he said the last word, making the demigod cry out a choked gargle. Atlas looked down, seeing Zoë weakly reach for her bow, which had reverted to its original form. Her own form was flickering, her mind racing and her consciousness wavering. He kicked it away, and then smashed his foot onto her back, making her cry out as well. "And I get to _break_ another moon goddess."

" _No!_ " Percy yelled in his head, trying to think of some way to get away, some way to hide away again. " _Father…Annabeth…Zoë…anyone…"_ he begged. He looked down at Zoë. He'd made her a promise, to protect her, and look where that ended up. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he tried to come to peace to the fact that this was the end.

xxxXXXxxx

"You're not going to stop that?" Thalia wondered. She was already standing and ready to intervene, but Luke, wielding a bit of Kronos' power, stopped her in her tracks until she agreed to not do anything.

"No, just you watch…" Luke said, having cleared his face and returned to that state of melancholy. Now, though, she thought she saw something resembling awe in his eyes. "You're about to see something amazing."

xxxXXXxxx

Atlas laughed maniacally. "I must admit, Olympians, you provided more of a challenge than I'd expected," he said. "I'd have thought the use of my prized chakrams to be unneeded, only in case of emergency."

" _He's taunting us…taunting_ me _…"_ Percy thought, his vision blackening. " _Someone has to…Someone has to stop him…"_ Percy clenched his fists. " _It has to be me!"_

Percy summoned a strength within him that he'd found back in Mount Saint Helens, and again when he'd accepted the Achilles Curse.

Water burst from his body, steaming hot, boiling water fueled with rage. " _Don't_ lump me in with the Olympians!" he growled, landing on the ground, hunched over like a feral predator. "I am _me_! Nobody else!" he willed the river to bend to his will, rising like a tsunami.

It loomed over Atlas, who was in awe that Percy had such power. "By Chaos himself…" Atlas said as Percy willed the hundred-foot-tall wave to crash onto a single point; right at Atlas.

As it fell, Percy dashed toward Zoë, hefting her over his shoulder, and diving straight into the tidal wave. Atlas stood his ground, confident that he'd be able to take it. And he did. It took effort, a _lot_ of effort, but Atlas came out the other end mostly unscathed. Though, he thought, if Percy could summon that much power, there would be no telling how much more he could call on when needed. Atlas found himself grinning.

"Now _this_ is the challenge I've been waiting for, spider!" he called out to the river, waiting for his foe to return.

Percy formed a bubble around him and Zoë, pulling in water to try and heal her wounds, and his own, if only a little. "Come on…come on, come on…" he begged.

She coughed up some ichor and opened her eyes. Her wounds hadn't healed. "Oh, oh…I now know what it felt like to hold the sky…" she moaned, trying to sit up.

"…"

"Where is Atlas?" she wondered.

"Up above," Percy answered, his voice lower, quieter, than usual. "Waiting for us."

"Then we shouldn't- agh…keep him too long," she rolled over onto her stomach and pushed herself to her hands and knees. Ichor dripped down and seeped through the bubble and into the river.

"We need to pull back. We need to retreat," Percy said.

"No, we do not," Zoë argued.

"Zoë, you promised. A bad hit and you're out; I'm _not_ losing you."

"You are more of a fool than I had thought if you believe I will accept a loss today," she growled, standing through the pain. "That beast will reign over us as our prison keeper if we do not stop him here and now!" she exclaimed too forcefully, making her cough up more ichor and drop to her knees.

"Zoë!" he steadied her. "We can do this another day, after you've recovered. We didn't know-"

"No," she remained adamant. The two locked eyes, a kind of understanding formed between them. Zoë tore away first. "Bah…fine!" she relented. "This was never my fight to finish anyway…" she said. "I will retreat, regroup and defend base," she said.

"Zoë…" now that she'd actually agreed, it sounded like he was treating her like a child.

"No, do not say anything. My victory was in keeping control, Percy. I achieved that. Your victory…is in defeating that demon, and proving the will of humanity at its rawest and most potent."

Percy took a deep breath, and nodded.

Atlas waited eagerly, and finally saw the two rise out of the water. Percy supported Zoë, who tried to look taller and more powerful than she felt. The two stared down Atlas. Zoë shook Percy off, standing on her own. She nodded to the demigod and limped away from the battle. Atlas, surprisingly, let her go. He just smirked at the son of Poseidon.

Percy drew Riptide, strengthening it with his water, and forming a second blade. Before, this style had been…awkward to him. When he'd first used it against the Nemean Lion, he only did so because it was the only way to ward off its lightning-fast assault. Now though, after having a year and half with it, it felt even better than his one-handed style. He couldn't have known it then, but this is the style of combat that would come to define Percy, both to himself, and to those who challenged him. IF he wasn't fighting with two blades, he wasn't seriously.

Atlas readied his chakrams as well. This was it; both knew that this was going to be a fight to the death.

"Let's start," Atlas said. Percy's adrenaline flared.

"Let's finish!" he roared, charging toward the Titan with blades trailing on the ground.

Atlas met Percy's blades handily, the blow sending shockwaves through the air. Percy willed the water behind him to attack, blasting Atlas as he tried to counterattack, letting Percy keep up the pressure for a time before being pushed back. The Titan leapt up and smashed down with his feet at Percy, with the lithe demigod narrowly avoiding it and the Titan's subsequent assault. Without armor or a shield to weigh him down, Percy found that he was able to maneuver much better, especially without having to worry about caring for someone else during the fight. This time, it was just him and Atlas.

Percy weaved around a swipe and shot a blast of boiling water into Atlas' face and neck, making him rear back. As he did, he attacked wildly, catching Percy's leg as he jumped back too. "You mongrel!" Atlas roared, shaking the ground. He caught himself from falling backwards, and flung his chakram, actually using it for what the weapon originally intended.

Percy barely managed to avoid the unexpected attack, with it only taking a few strands of hair, before it was pulled back, as if on a chain. Percy willed the river to bend to him again, forming what looked like a wrecking ball of hardened water.

Percy shot into the air and swung it down in a flip, straight onto the Titan, who was crushed by the attack. Percy landed as Atlas stood, seeing that the hit only served to make Atlas spit up a bit of ichor. Percy pulled the wrecking ball back and swung it again, from the side this time.

Unfortunately, Atlas caught it, struggling against its momentum for a moment, only to crush it between his hands, making it drop to the ground in a puddle. That was partly because Percy gave up on keeping its form, though, seeing that the tactic was a lost cause.

Atlas attacked, pushing Percy back towards the river. Percy searched desperately for a way out of the offensive, but Atlas' four arms covered all of his bases. Even as Percy blasted Atlas, he kept up the assault. "Come on! Where'd that confidence and bluster go?!" Atlas demanded. He raised two of his arms for a devastating overhead slam. Percy saw it coming, and everything seemed to freeze around him. He couldn't dodge the attack; he was still recovering from the previous attacks. He had two options. Take the hit, or…

Percy raised his arms, willing all of his power to go to his limbs and back. He knew that the attack would almost surely shatter his bones and leave him a quivering pile of skin, but if he'd have taken the attack, then he would've been sliced tomato anyway.

But Percy felt a surge of strength as Atlas came down. The impact of his chakrams on Percy's blades formed a crater and sent out physical ripples through the air, shaking the river and the roads alike. Except, no, it wasn't a crater. They were right up at the water; the impact caused the ground to collapse, the force so powerful that it caused where they were standing to shatter and tumble down.

" _So_ this _is the power I'll have…"_ Percy thought numbly, so caught up in the battle that he barely registered that he had the thought. Even just seeing the blades protruding form Atlas' weapons, just centimeters away from his face, was enough to keep Percy's mind on track.

He saw a chance, pushing Atlas' attack to the side, making him start to fall. Percy grabbed Atlas' arm and, with a thunderous roar, threw Atlas over the river.

Percy leapt after him, forcing the water to shoot up like a laser, blasting Atlas back up into the air. Percy shot above him, and blasted him down with the same force, and then the river shot again, until it was a continuous stream from both sides of scorching water blasting at Atlas with everything Percy had. A final blast shot into the Titan, shoving him back onto land. Percy landed as well, weary from having expended so much energy.

The Curse kept up, letting him recover faster than the Titan. He tumbled forward into a run, summoning his blades. At this point, it was only instinct pushing the son of Poseidon's body to do the things it did. Blood pumped in his ears, the dull roar of its flow fueling him like a crowd's cheers. His vision was like a tunnel; zeroed in onto Atlas as he lay down blow after blow, with the Titan's meager defense only barely holding as Percy pushed him back to the main battle, which was nearly over.

" _Go for his heart!"_ Riptide yelled, seeming just as into the fight as Percy was.

After a few more slashes to Atlas' face, Percy reared back for a jab into that stony chest, but his blade was caught. Not by the chakrams, but by Atlas' bare hands.

Percy was stunned from the sudden stop, and so didn't react fast enough to Atlas shoving a fist straight into Percy's gut, hard. Percy coughed up blood, just like the last time. He stayed standing, even as Atlas stood and towered over him. Atlas was chuckling. "I will admit, spider. You've improved, more than I'd have thought. Unfortunately for you, this was never truly a competition."

Without another word, Atlas leapt backward before dashing toward the demigod. Percy raised his blades shakily, that direct hit knocking him off of his game.

Instead of attacking Percy, however, Atlas shot into the air past him, on an angle. Percy could only watch as Atlas crashed into the bottom of a building, destroying its foundation and making it start falling, directly onto the demigod force. "No!" Percy yelled. "This doesn't involve them!"

He retracted his blades and desperately shot water out to his sides. The campers were scrambling to escape the collapse before it happened, but they'd never make it. Percy had to use up another good chunk of his energy to create enough water all at once, shoving it forward and making it blast away the campers, letting the last ones just barely make it out.

Percy covered his eyes as a cloud of dust erupted from the collapse. Percy coughed, entering the new rubble where he knew Atlas was waiting. "You monster!" he called. "This is between you and me!"

"Ingrate!" Atlas appeared out of nowhere behind Percy. The demigod just barely had time to raise an arm to lock the fist. Percy was surprised that Atlas didn't just cut him in half, but then, Zoë did say he was sadistic; perhaps he wanted to savor the death. Either way, Percy was sent tumbling on the ground, cracking the stones beneath him as he went. Percy struggled to his feet. "You mortals; you're all the same. You all believe yourselves _sacred_. It's quite pathetic that you've fooled yourselves into thinking so."

"You don't get to decided what's sacred either!" Percy returned, but he held his side, his ribs aching.

"Fair enough. And so I shall kill you all equally. You are not any more important than the poor souls you just let live another few moments," he grinned, his eyes, his body, his aura radiating malice. "But know this, spider: I will remember you as the first mortal to pose a challenge," Percy couldn't do anything as the Titan charged, only try and dodge.

Percy summoned that last strength that the Curse would give him, until he recovered, which he used to keep up and summon his blades, not drawing Riptide, getting off a cut here and there, but not enough to stop Atlas' assault. Percy raised his blades as Atlas summoned his chakrams and attacked again. Percy's blades clashed with the weapons briefly, only to shatter a moment later. Percy rolled backward, only to be caught in a kick before he could stand, sending him flying into a wall.

Percy couldn't even land before he was attacked again, caught in the shoulders and sides with Atlas' four chakrams. Percy's eyes went wide, his nervous system going into shock at the pain. Atlas leaned close to Percy, up against his ear.

"To honor your bravery, I will give your allies a swifter death than yours," he vowed, though Percy doubted that it would be fulfilled.

Atlas removed his weapons and stepped away, watching Percy drop to the ground on his feet, which immediately buckled beneath him, making him fall to his hands and knees. Even this was a struggle. The Achilles Curse had already run out, and it left him exhausted on top of him barely feeling anything through his pain.

Percy had thought he knew what it was like to die. He'd been so close to Thanatos too many times to count, but this…this was the worst death he could imagine. After having come so far, gotten so close…only to be bested. It was crushing.

And Percy wouldn't stand for it.

It could've been the memento of Zoë's pulling at his waist, willing him to fight on. It could've been thoughts of Annabeth, and the sadness that would overtake if she heard of his death. It could've been his fatal flaw kicking in, willing him to fight to the finish to protect the others. Or, it could've been his own stubborn pride.

Percy slowly stood, pain searing in his body all over. Atlas watched, either intrigued or horrified. Percy's hand twitched, as if closing around a hilt. " _A weapon…"_ Percy thought. " _I need a weapon."_

But he'd used up all of his energy; he doubted that he could even create a water fountain. Thoughts flashed through his mind, barely registered even.

" _The closer the soul is to the user, the stronger the weapon."_

" _To have that with blood, such an intimate and integral part of oneself."_

"You still stand?" Atlas questioned, sounding confused and frustrated.

Percy's breathing was labored as his senses went numb and his brain going into overdrive. "I…am the force that splits the sea," he vowed, drawing power from…somewhere. He felt some object appear in his hands. "I won't lose to you…" his grip tightened, his energy surging for another moment to finish the battle. Percy's anger flared. "Not now! Now _ever again!_ " he roared, charging forward to meet Atlas.

It was odd; Percy felt so weak, yet he was forcing the Titan of endurance backwards. Well, this battle had turned long ago from a battle of strength to a battle of willpower. Whoever gave in first was the one who would fall, not who was physically stronger.

Percy caught glimpses of his weapons, which were moving so fast as to only allow flashes of what they were. They were blades, of course, but instead of the familiar Celestial Bronze, or the equally familiar sea-green/blue/clear of his self-made ones, these were shaded a deep, mesmerizing crimson color.

These weapons were made from Percy's own blood, spilled forth from his wounds.

"Gah! This doesn't make any sense!" Atlas pushed back, the two getting into a furious exchange, each clash of weapons sending out a blast of sparks. "You were dead on the ground! You should not be fighting! You _can't_!" Percy was slowly pushed back.

" _No!"_ he yelled in his head. " _Keep going…be faster! Be stronger! Become the churning of the oceans!"_

"How?! Why?! Why do you continue to fight when it's pointless; you know you'll fail, so why not just roll over and die?!" Atlas questioned. Percy's anger flared again.

"I fight because I have something worth fighting for!" he roared, sending all of his power into his attack, clashing against and slashing past Atlas' weapons. In his right hands, the side that met the attack, Atlas' titanic weapons shattered to Percy's will.

Atlas quickly tried to recover, betting that Percy would drop any minute. Though, now that he was down to half of his firepower, he couldn't put up much of a fight as Percy vaulted over his punch and smashed his foot across the Titan's face. Pain flared in Percy's ankle; it was probably broken. Atlas, though, seemed to be legitimately wounded, at least his pride was, by the hit.

He got sloppier, allowing Percy to rack up more damage, which quickly escalated into Percy seeing a chance to finish things.

Percy shot himself into the air, summoning the very last drops of his power, which had been briefly renewed in this new surge of adrenaline, with a water jet, flipping backwards to get the perfect angle, before shooting himself downward.

He fell toward Atlas, creating a sonic boom on his way down. Atlas seemed to think he could catch Percy in the air. "You're mine!" he threw his two chakrams at Percy simultaneously. Percy's eyes were wide and lucid; he knew _exactly_ what to do.

Very precisely, Percy shot water out perpendicular to himself, notching him just over the thrown weapons, flipping him in the air as he came down with a devastating overhead slash.

Atlas narrowly avoided the kill shot, but he didn't react nearly fast enough. Percy landed, having barely felt it as his blade tore through both of Atlas' left arms, severing them completely.

Percy's mind raced, knowing that this was his chance to land a shot to Atlas' heart and kill him. Well, scatter his essence, at least.

But right at that moment, Percy's body gave out. He collapsed, his blood swords disappearing into a puff of red mist. He fell to the ground, nearly unconscious.

Atlas took a second to process that he was safe. "You…you are far too dangerous to be kept alive," he said finally. It was a strange sensation, hearing the Titan of Willpower speak to oddly highly of Percy. "But it seems that today, your body gives out before your will."

" _No…I was_ so close _…"_ he thought desperately. This time, there really was nothing he could do. Zoë's memento pulsed violently, almost humming with anticipation and…power? She wanted him to keep fighting. No, she _needed_ for Percy to keep fighting, but there was no way out of this. Unless…

Percy had a crazy idea.

Atlas picked up Percy by his shirt, and as he did, Percy yanked the memento off of his belt loop.

"Goodbye, Cruel Spider," Atlas said, rearing back a fist to deal the killing blow.

Before Atlas could react, Percy shot the tooth into Atlas' chest. It glowed within him, paralyzing him and seeing to open a void of moonlight in his chest. Atlas kept Percy level with him.

"My name is Percy Jackson, the wolf. I'm _not_ the Cruel Spider anymore," he said, his voice stronger than he thought it'd be. "You asked me once if 'this was really how far I'd come'. You were a wall too tall for me to climb then, but no more. You won't tower over Zoë. You won't tower over _me_ anymore. Is this how far I've come, that I will come? No. This is just the beginning!" Percy slammed a fist into the memento, driving it fully into Atlas' chest.

The full power of Zoë's soul exploded in front of Percy as he seemed to punch through Atlas. The Titan exploded in a literal wall of light, even blasting out behind him like Percy was shattering a glass pane made entirely of light. The wall must've reached as high as the Empire State Building was tall, and the energy released, and the sensation it brought to Percy, was indescribable. All that was left of the battle was the destruction and Atlas' two remaining weapons. Soon, even they turned to dust and scattered to the wind.

Percy stumbled up to get a good look at those around him. He hadn't noticed during the fight, but the battle had ceased when they saw this one insanely stupid demigod fighting Atlas. Even the Titan Army was in awe. By now, all of the monsters had been killed, and the rogue demigods were just barely standing their ground without their leader. Percy looked over them, acknowledging their awed faces.

In triumph, he raised his fist high, causing cheers from his allies to erupt from below him. Soon enough, the rogue demigods surrendered, not wanting to go against the guy who beat Atlas single-handedly (for the most part).

Thus, the legend of the Titan Slayer was born.

 **Author's Note:**

 **I told you guys it was finale length! I don't even have time to proofread it before I post unless you guys want it up at like 9, and it's already late. Sorry, I got off at 7:30 today and had to pick up groceries on the way home.**

 **Anyway, this, to me, is what Percy's whole arc has all been building towards. From here, his personal journey of growth is over while his story continues on...for like five or six more chapters. With that being said, I'ma share with you one of my favorite songs of all time and my pick for the ED of this season of The Cruel Spider.**

 **That song is "Last Theater" by Noisycell, English cover by Dima Lancaster, the ed of Death Parade. It's essentially just six minutes of raw emotion, potent in Dima's performance. The words themselves are irrelevant to why I love the song in the first place (though they're great), but for this story they relate heavily to Luke Castellan and his relationship with either Percy or Annabeth (they're interchangeable in context), while the final line, "I have to go", is going to be repeated by me, and you'll know when you see it. For this reason I think it would be a perfect pick as well as a theme song for Luke.**

 **Originally I was going to go with "The World" the first op for Death Note, cover by Nathan Sharp, but the more I wrote it, the more the tragedy of the character became clear and the more this song fit.**

 **I gotta say that I personally loved writing this chapter, because I've been waiting for so FUCKING long to finally get it done. I remember texting my friend at like 3 in the morning, telling him how I got a bit carried away when writing it.**

 **But enough about what I thought, I want to know what you all thought. Why don't you leave me a review! Let's get it up past 200!**


	59. Whatever With Whoever

Percy spent the first part of the night resting. Winona saw him first; he had sustained the worst injuries. Lacerations where Atlas' chakrams had torn into his skin, multiple cracked and broken bones, definitely a concussion of godly proportions. "I'm surprised you can even shit right, to be honest," she said of his condition. Percy chuckled, though it hurt to do so. "I can give you some ambrosia and nectar, but…"

"Give me more than usual," he said.

Winona furrowed her brow. "You're already ingesting too much. We don't want you catching on fire."

"It'll be fine," he insisted. She crossed her arms in disapproval. "Win, I _need_ to be functional tomorrow. After tomorrow, I won't have anymore; promise."

"Okay, now that's definitely a lie," she said. "Whatever. Your tent?"

"Yeah, go ahead and…actually, take it to my apartment," he said. She raised an eyebrow, but didn't question.

His next stop was to see Zoë. Her wounds were still open, despite the Apollo campers trying to close them. "Do godly wounds take longer or something?" Percy questioned as he approached. Zoë glanced at him with disdain for the comment, but then grimaced.

"Gods, I have never seen a mortal so broken," she mentioned, her voice raspy and strained, like she'd been screaming nonstop for a few hundred hours. Thalia was standing over her, unharmed.

"Where were you during the fighting?" Percy asked, sounding frustrated.

"Watching the sky," she claimed. Percy wasn't sure how to interpret that response, but Zoë spoke before he had to.

"But…if you're here, then…"

Percy felt her head; no fever. He willed water to come from his hand and let it rest on her wounds. Now that he could concentrate, it seemed to help them heal faster…if only a little. "Atlas is dead."

"Dead?" Zoë seemed about to question how, but then she sighed. "…Thank you."

"…I needed it just as much," he said. "Get some rest; we'll need you tomorrow."

With that, Percy went to Annabeth. Immediately upon entering the tent, he was embraced. She squeezed too hard. "Agh! Ow! Let go!" he cried, but she wouldn't let go. "H-hey, it's alright, Brighteyes. I'm fine, see?"

"If you were fine, you wouldn't hurt when I hug you," she argued. She separated. Her face was red, and lips tucked into a deep frown. She began yelling, making her cabinmates retreat, afraid of her wrath. "What the hell were you thinking, fighting Atlas on your own?! You knew that it would end badly! This is the _third_ time you ran off on your own to _die_ without asking for my permission first!"

"Third?" he wondered.

" _Polyphemus, Mount Saint-Helens, Atlas Rematch,"_ Riptide listed them. " _You're probably gonna do it again tomorrow, if I had to guess. Probably plenty more times in the future too-"_

" _Okay, I get it,"_ Percy thought, then noticed Annabeth scowling at him expectantly. She really was beautiful, even when angry. It made him just want to kiss her, to cherish being with her, but he figured that she wouldn't reciprocate just yet. He had to break the ice, so to speak.

"O-oh, well…c-can I go off to die, like, three hours ago?" Annabeth continued to glare at him, before grinning.

"Gods, Percy! You redefine what it means to be an idiot, you goddamn smart-ass!" she laughed, overjoyed to see him breathing after hearing what he did. He couldn't help but grin as well, sheepish as it was.

"H-hey, let's, um…let's head out for the night," he suggested.

She cocked her head, still smiling. "Why? We're already at base."

"I know, but, um…let's go to my apartment," he offered. "We can stay there tonight. I want to sleep on a real bed again."

"That's…not really fair to the others, though," she brought up. Her grin broke when she looked at him again. His eyes were almost pleading behind that embarrassed grin. Annabeth smiled again, warmer this time. "Sure," she agreed, getting groans from her cabinmates. "Can you help me? I'm technically not supposed to be walking around, so…"

"Me neither," Percy said, gesturing to his foot, which had a brace on it. "But hey, two half-walkers make a whole walker, right?"

"Sure, we'll go with that."

The walk, well, stumble, there, while brief, was quiet. It wasn't an awkward silence, either. When they made it to the apartment, they drew a bath, not to bathe, but for Percy to soak in for an hour and heal his most grievous injuries.

She sat on the other side of the tub; both were still clothed. "You wanna watch a movie when I get out?" the son of Poseidon wondered.

"Percy, we're in the middle of a war," she reminded him. "I don't think now's the time."

"Well, I guess we should stay on track," he said. "Sorry."

She smiled. "No need. Rain check, though? On the movie?"

"Sure. We'll go out for dinner too," he suggested. "Something fancy, to celebrate winning."

"That sounds great! Just the two of us?"

"Naturally. Just the two of us. We haven't had much time together this past…gods, this whole year. We've been too busy," Percy claimed.

"Truer words were never spoken, Seaweed Brain," she rested her head on the wall.

"…Headache?" Percy wondered.

"No, just…well, a little. You give me migraines," she admitted. "It used to be because you were so stupid, but now it's more of a latent frustration at-"

"Alright, alright…" Percy flicked her shoulder. "So what is it really? Is it…about what you were gonna say earlier? About the streets?"

"…" the almost-casual feeling disappeared from the room. "…Why is your memory so good with the most random things?" she chuckled. It was a hollow sound, devoid of joy or pleasantness.

Percy blinked, unaware that he'd had such a trait. "Well, it just really seemed to, uh…trouble you, before that battle."

"Y-yeah…" she admitted. "I suppose it did."

"Well? What's up?" he asked. She hesitated, clearly uncomfortable. "Come on, you can tell me."

"It's just…you remember Luke's fatal flaw?"

"Excessive honor," Percy stated.

"Right. And you remember why I don't like cyclopes?"

"Because of that…one night," Percy was hesitant to describe it in detail. It was when Luke and Thalia and Grover were captured, leaving little seven-year-old Annabeth to free them without help.

"Right," her voice was low and reserved. "Well, there's…a bit more to the story…a lot more, actually," she started. "See, we didn't just wander into their encampment. We…we went there because there was demigods trapped there, about to be served as dinner, just like Luke, Thalia, and Grover ended up. We went in there to free them, but we just ended up getting caught instead."

"Did the demigods make it out?"

"Yeah…and they joined us. Along the way, we met more…and more…and more and more."

Percy grimaced. "That's dangerous."

"Yeah…only we didn't know that back then. Grover kept warning us about how we shouldn't take any more in, but Luke…he just couldn't leave them behind. Grover couldn't tell us about the scent yet; that was saved for Camp Half-Blood, at least back then; I forget our policy now about when satyrs tell demigods. Eventually, we got close to camp. By then, though, we had a small army of monsters on our tail."

xxxXXXxxx

" _Come on!" Luke urged them forward, toward where Grover had said the gates to this "Camp Half-Blood" were, staying in back with a short blade, parrying the blow of a monster and driving his sword through its chest, making it explode. The rain served to wash away the monster blood, though it would've shriveled into dust in seconds either way. Another monster immediately took its place. "Hurry!"_

 _The children ahead of him looked terrified, eyes bulging. Their senses were scrambled to all hell, with only one thing on their minds; survive. Their demigod blood would help with that goal, but with them scattering as far as they were, there was no way that they'd make it._

" _Annabeth!"_ _Thalia called from the chaos. Grover had taken a blow to the head, and she was forced to carry him, her Aegis shield warding off any potential threats. The daughter of Athena was supposed to be here, carrying Grover, but she'd gotten lost in the crowd. "Where are you?"_

" _I'm here!" the young girl called, wielding her Oathkeeper dagger, recovered and named by Luke. She'd gotten much more proficient at defending herself, but she never managed to outright kill a monster, just distract them from the real threats long enough to help._

" _Go and get them!" Luke ordered, taking on a Minotaur by himself._

" _Luke!" Thalia pointed at the group of demigods that had charged ahead. Barely any of them had weapons, and none were trained or had the street reflexes that Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth had gained. Not only that, but a group of monsters had circled around and cut them off._

" _No!" he called, ducking under the Minotaur's swipe and dashing back toward them. "Please! Come back!" tears were streaming down his face. He didn't make it to them in time, and watched as his friends, those who depended on him, were cut down mercilessly._

 _They looked up to Luke, relied on him to lead them, and he'd led them only to their swift deaths. The son of Hermes (though he wasn't claimed yet) dropped to his knees, his brain going into shock. By then, Annabeth had taken Grover, and Thalia had rejoined the fight proper, wielding her spear in a flurry of wide-sweeping blows arced with electricity._

" _We need to move!" Thalia exclaimed, quickly becoming overwhelmed by the horde of never-ending monsters._

" _I…" Luke muttered, still shedding tears relentlessly. "I…let them die…" he looked at his hands. In his eyes, they now carried the blood of the demigods who fell. It was his fault. "No…" he muttered, looking up to the sky, to Olympus. He found himself shouting, overcome with emotion. "Why didn't you protect them?!"_

 _A lightning bolt shot down right next to the demigods, almost like Thalia summoned it, though she looked just as surprised as Luke and Annabeth. It served to create a small pocket for them to push through to the gates. Now that Luke had a second to look, he thought he could see the gates over the hill._

 _Annabeth herself said nothing, terrified. She'd never seen Luke as weak as he was then, and only acted to follow him and Thalia when they started moving. However, that Minotaur from earlier had caught up, and grabbed Thalia's arm while she was distracted._

 _She was tossed deep into the fray. "Thalia!" Luke called, his voice raspy and furious. He looked about to charge in after._

" _No, we need to go!" Annabeth snapped. It was the only time she raised her voice to him before his betrayal of camp. Luke shot a steely glare at Annabeth that felt like it lasted for minutes, when in reality it lasted less than half a second, before the two (three with Grover) continued on to the gates._

 _Behind them, Thalia's passionate roar was heard in the battle, and flashes of light indicated her lightning, drawing closer to the top of the hill. She burst from the wall of monsters who'd gather at the gates, weary to go near them. She was bloodied and broken, her arm shattered where the Minotaur had grabbed her, her face sticky with blood despite the rain. She had just twenty meters to go._

 _When she collapsed._

 _The monsters pounced and Luke roared. It took all Annabeth had to keep him from attacking them and killing himself. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck where Thalia lay, covering her in electricity. It arced up into the sky, and slowly changed form. The monsters around them disintegrated from a new power that was released in this transformation. Soon, they saw wood grow from the lightning._

 _This continued until Thalia's tree was made, solidifying and expanding Camp Half-Blood's defenses._

xxxXXXxxx

"And from there…you know the rest," Annabeth finished. "…There must've been close to fifty of us, Percy, and then it was down to Luke and me…"

"…It wasn't your fault," Percy claimed. "It wasn't Luke's either. You guys couldn't have prepared for that, any of that."

"…Luke never forgot. He tried his best to hide it, not wanting to be reminded of their deaths. We never talked about it…I…never had the courage to talk to him much more after that…" she admitted, recalling the simpler times, when her biggest worry was in trying to hold a conversation with a man who she'd known for half of her life. "I think...deep down...he blamed the gods, even before Kronos, even before his father sent him a quest he would fail, even before..." she trailed off.

Percy put a dry hand on her cheek, wiping away some nostalgic tears. She turned away, her face going red from embarrassment. Percy stood, stepped out of the tub, and sat next to her against the wall, pulling her into a side hug. "It's alright," he said. It was all he _could_ say. "It's alright now, to be sad."

Annabeth's tears continued silently as she leaned into him for comfort. The two sat there for a moment, taking it all in. Finally, Annabeth chuckled, her nose having gotten clogged in her tears. "You know…this moment might be more emotional if we weren't having it while facing a toilet."

Percy laughed at that, standing alongside the daughter of Athena. They stepped out and to Percy's room. Annabeth blew her nose and then took a few minutes to get back to normal. "I have a present for you," she announced suddenly. Percy blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"It's your birthday," she pointed to the clock, which read 12:23 am. "You're eighteen."

"Oh…" he'd almost completely forgotten about it through the day's events. "And…when did you find time to buy something?"

"I didn't buy it," she claimed, urging him to sit with her. She pulled a small bag out from under the bed, which she later informed him had been stored there by a scout whom she'd requested do it. She then presented it to him. Perplexed by the strange weight to the bag, Percy looked to Annabeth for almost reassurance. "Well, go on," she smiled. Percy shrugged, accepting the gift, and reached his hand inside. "Careful," she said, only after he reached in.

Even before she said it, Percy felt the familiar shape of a hilt in his grip, and he pulled out…

"Annabeth…I can't take this," he claimed, holding her Oathkeeper dagger in his hands. "This is yours."

"Maybe, but..." she didn't accept that response, pulling out Trident. "I've got a better one now."

He inspected the blade; well-cared for, recently polished. "But…" it still felt wrong.

She scooted closer to him. "Luke gave that to me on the street and named it Oathkeeper. He said it was a symbol. It meant…" she trailed off, as if just remembering the words. Her tone turned somber. "He said it represented his promise to me, that he would always be there to protect me and Thalia, and we would be family."

"Annabeth…just…you can have it back," he offered, feeling almost dirty by holding it; she would never, in a million years, let anybody touch this dagger, even Percy never got to touch it. Luke was the most important figure, arguably, in Annabeth's life; her hero, her idol. This was her heart, her very soul; the core of who she was…and she entrusted it to Percy…

She shook her head and pushed it away, continuing to speak. "But now…I'm changing that," she claimed. "From me to you…I want this to be-"

"No," Percy interrupted, pulling her into a hug. "I want the meaning to stay the same…"

"P-Percy…"

"…You never trusted anyone with this…you could never trust someone enough to let them hold your entire heart, laid out bare on Celestial Bronze. Even if it dulls or bends or even if it breaks, I _promise_ that I'll keep carrying it and keep it safe in my hands."

Fresh tears streamed down Annabeth's face. "Damn it…" she returned the hug. "Stop making me cry, you asshole…"

Percy set the dagger on the nightstand beside him and waited for Annabeth stop crying, trying to keep his own emotions in control.

"Hey, Annabeth?" he started. "Not to, um, quote a movie at the wrong time, but…if it was the last birthday you were gonna have…what would you do?"

The question seemed to shake the daughter of Athena. She fell silent, her eyes cloudy with worry, not meeting his gaze. Percy knew how she got when he mentioned his high likelihood of dying. They'd agreed when they began the relationship that they would give it their all, but know in the back of their heads that either one of them could be dead by morning. Percy knew she would rather not bring that to attention.

Then she smiled, and it filled Percy with warmth. She turned to him, a seductive glint in her eye. "To quote that same movie; I'd do whatever I want to, with whoever I wanted to do it with."

Percy wanted so badly to kiss her right then, but he had to request something first. "I want…you."

It was hard to describe the feeling that is 'love'. Many songs have tried to get at the heart of it, and scientists could explain it away as hormones or whatever. But it was something more than that.

In this moment, in bed, completely naked, both physically and emotionally, with Annabeth was a euphoria that could only be described as love. It was more than an act or a series of events and feelings. It was a will imprinted upon two individuals through mutual feelings.

Percy should think of this as torture. A son of Poseidon and a daughter of Athena, destined to hate each other. Driven apart by circumstance and ideology. One is of body and one is of mind; they complete each other and form a single soul together, which ebbed and flowed like waves, crossing through the minds of themselves and others.

This feeling. The one of pure joy and euphoria, attained through years of work and care in a relationship.

This is love.

xxxXXXxxx

Silena shuffled toward the barest edge of the Half-Blood base. There, perhaps not intentionally, Ethan was 'keeping watch' on the perimeter. In actuality, he was likely just thinking and trying to cope with his new blindness. He was handling it in stride, as much as he could. He started using his sword in its sheathe as a walking stick, and he's tried to remain integrated as much as he could. He didn't seem to notice Silena walking past. Then he spoke.

"You know they say if one of your senses is taken away, your other ones become more fine-tuned or powerful, but truth be told, I'm not feeling any such difference," he said to the air. Silena didn't respond, but found herself waiting for him to speak again. He didn't. Perhaps he'd been talking to himself, or was expecting someone else to come and take up whatever position he thought he had. They were the only explanations that Silena could think for this odd behavior. She started walking away again. "You're really leaving, then?" she heard behind her.

When she looked she saw him staring directly at her. "…How'd you know it was me?"

"Your footsteps were quiet, Silena. I knew _someone_ was leaving because of that, not you specifically."

She frowned…well, her frown deepened anyway. She always found Ethan to be difficult to handle. He was too quick-witted for her tastes. He could talk you down in the most excruciatingly painful way; he knew _exactly_ where to push to get a reaction out of people, or to get them to be so mad as to leave him alone or foolishly challenge him to a sword fight.

"So why are you heading out? Sick of the city air?"

"…You know why I'm leaving," she claimed.

"Yeah, because you're a traitor," he said. "But then again, I am too. Yet here I stay."

"Because you made a stupid deal."

"Correct," he admitted. "And now, lookie-lookie; they trust me, to a fault. I found something that I could do," he pointed at his eyes; blank. "That would prove to them without a shadow of a doubt that I was trustworthy."

Silena waited for him to speak again, but he just waited and listened. "…I have nothing left to gain from being here," she said. "I'm going to Luke, where I'll be welcome with open arms. Where I don't have to face them walking to their deaths."

"Mhm," he grunted. "And do you really expect Luke to be in control when you get there? And do you really think Kronos will have any clue who you are?"

She raised her voice. "Would you just-" she cut off, quickly catching her temper and subduing it. "Just…let me leave quietly," she requested.

"Well, that wasn't very quiet so it might be hard to do that…" he teased.

"Why do you enjoy torturing me?"

"Because it's hilarious," he said. "Just like it was when I told those campers how stupid it was for them to think they could destroy the Andromeda. Now look who's the asshole," he pointed to himself. "But aside from that, I do it because you're taking this whole thing…wrong."

Now he was messing with her. She turned to leave, tired of speaking to him. "This isn't an excuse to give up, Silena. It's an opportunity. Find something that will make them forgive you!" he called after her.

She soon found herself on the waterfront. "Stupid Ethan…" she muttered. "Stupid Percy, stupid Greeks…I don't need them. They _hate_ me; probably always have. I know Drew hated me from the beginning at least," she rambled, her own image and negative thoughts building on one another. After all, it was _never_ Silena's fault that things turned out the way that they did.

In the end, she didn't go straight to Luke. She lay on a bench, sleeping the night and negative thoughts away, only to awake the next morning with an annoying clanging sound next to her.

Annoyed, she sat up and looked around, not seeing anything. Then she looked in the water. It was the strangest sight, and it could be read as nothing but a sign from the gods.

Clanging against the side of the water was a distinguished helmet and easily recognizable armor, along with a spear, not Clarisse's, but likely one from the Williamsburg Battle nonetheless. "Clarisse's armor…" Silena muttered, quickly working to fish it up. "But…why? Why me?!" she called out to the river, not sure if it was at the naiads or at Poseidon himself. But the message was clear; go back and help the Greeks with this armor. "They don't _want_ me anymore!" she yelled.

Yet, even as she said it, thoughts of Charlie flooded her mind, and she scrambled to put on the armor. She recalled the Ares cabin's dejected members, distraught at their leader having perished. Well, Silena was going to give them a reason to fight.

She _would_ do something to help them, to do _something_ to make up for everything she'd done against them.

xxxXXXxxx

Bianca sat with Cerberus at the gates to the Underworld. She'd sat there for a long time, so much so that she stopped bothering to count how long she was to be a coward. It could've been minutes, hours, days…maybe years. Bianca's mind was far enough gone that time had lost meaning. She couldn't even remember the day of the week most days, even when she had a calendar in front of her face…not that she could even read it…it was just a…whatever.

Sometimes she wondered just how she managed to get through her day to day life properly. How she remembered to get dressed, make herself look presentable.

She shook her head. She had other things to worry about right then. She stood, and looked to Cerberus' middle head. "Do you think you can give me a ride to the palace?" she asked him quietly. He gave a little nod and then nuzzled her with his other two heads. She smiled faintly. "Thanks, boy."

Then, she felt the windless breeze of the Underworld brushing past her face as the guard dog trotted along, passing jealous and/or terrified souls waiting in line or "living" out their eternal fate. Within minutes, she found herself on the steps of Hades' obsidian palace. She gripped the hilt of Brotherhood tight, hoping Nico's soul would provide some safety, some security. In reality, though, she knew that it wouldn't mean anything without her own strength to temper it.

And that was strength she didn't know if she could muster.

When she walked into Hades' throne room, she expected to feel fear, resentment, and rage. Instead, she felt empty. Unlike most other demigods, Hades' presence itself didn't seem to affect Bianca. Perhaps it only was so because her mind was too far gone to comprehend that he might have an effect on her. Well, other than an intense uncomfortable-ness, but that was just from him being her father, and him not having been around all her life.

"My daughter," his voice was instantly blood-boilingly condescending. And yet, he spoke with something akin to reverence when referring to her. "Come closer," he ordered.

She bit her lip, ultimately deciding to bite the bullet and just say it. "You need to help them," she said, her voice sounding small compared to the Lord of the Underworld's own order.

"Help who with what?" Hades feigned stupidity.

"Help the demigods against the Titans. Everything will come to a head soon. They need more firepower."

"They have enough," Hades said dryly. Bianca clenched her fist. "With you, they have far more than enough, if you could only use it all. Well, use it all and _not_ have another mental breakdown that risks the lives of everyone you love."

"…You owe them. They stopped the attempted-"

"You think I care?" Hades wondered. "That was _your_ task, not theirs. They stole that glory from my bloodline!" he raised his voice, making Bianca flinch. She felt a force erupt from his body briefly, a shadow shooting out and grazing Bianca's cheek, making it bleed. "You _pathetic_ _weakling_!"

Suddenly, Bianca felt small. Suddenly, she was filled with that rage she'd expected from the start. "I'm _not_ weak…" she muttered. "I-I killed Minos…and helped with-"

"You did nothing but ride on the coattails of a more powerful demigod," Hades claimed, his words bitingly cold, enough to make Bianca shiver with fear and anger.

"…I became the Ghost King…what more do you want from me…?" she found herself asking. She wanted something, anything, to make him relent. She found herself growing madder and madder, feeling her powers go out of even her father's control.

Still, he kept up his smarmy act. "Tch…if you answer one question correctly," he said. "I'll consider helping them."

"…"

Faster than Bianca could react, Hades' shadow ripped off her blindfold. She didn't even have time to flinch before it happened, and a dim light hit her eyes. "What is a king to a god?" he asked.

Bianca's powers exploded around her, her limiter having been removed. She, at first, tried to control it, but now, she was beginning to think of just…letting it run rampant for a while. Maybe….maybe she could direct it at something, or someone, and let it go wild.

Bianca drew Brotherhood, Nico's soul seeming just as furious as she felt. Hades didn't have a smirk on his face, as Bianca would've expected, but instead a look of deadly seriousness, like he was waiting for a climax. Well, Bianca would give him one to remember.

"And what is a god…" her powers swirled around her, all focused on ending Hades' life. She no longer cared about recruiting him. "To a non-believer!" she dashed forward, her shadows shooting all around her. She leapt into the air and raised her blade high, ready to rend through the God of the Dead. With a mighty roar, Bianca di Angelo unleashed everything she had.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey all! So it took longer than three or four days, but from here on it's going to be daily uploads until the end! Truth be told, it was actually going to take longer, but I figured if I was going to get it done, I would _need_ an incentive (the upload deadline) to push myself, because I've had a lot of distractions lately, and another huge one, Monster Hunter World, is coming out at 9 tonight with the pre-order, so I really will need to crunch today, along with installing a 1TB hard-drive in my PS4. Oh, this probably doesn't make sense because I'm uploading this in the evening; I'm proof-reading and writing this AN at 10:30 in the morning. I'm off work for two days (joy) so I have shit to do today but you all probably don't care about that.**

 **Anyway, what to say about the chapter...? Well, Percy and Annabeth porked each other, so...that finally came full circle from like chapter...I wanna say like 36. The one with "Your Name" in it. Bianca finally confronted her dad, and yes, those lines are from TFS who took them from a shitty rap artist. Great lines come from many places, even shitty ones...I'm talking the rap, not TFS. We got a big moment for Silena, who has been shit on this entire book non-stop. Maybe she'll grow a backbone now. Ooh...that's ironic and you don't know why yet.**

 **Anyway, don't forget to review!**


	60. The Day Of The Great Prophecy

Clarisse awoke to the lull of the waves, and instantly she was put in a bad mood. Not only was her torso extremely sore, but this calm, this serenity…it really pissed her off.

She sat up, noticing that she was nowhere near Manhattan anymore. "Where…?" she wondered, just as a light next to her caught her attention.

It was actually on the sand, with something being written. "Wake, child. It is the day the Great Prophecy fulfills itself."

"I'm awake," Clarisse answered. "Why am I alive?" she questioned. She remembered that searing pain, the inability to breathe…all for a traitor.

"I was asked to help you. You were healed in one of my sacred ponds underwater. You are but half a day's march back to the battlefield."

Clarisse frowned, owing even more to that idiot Percy, as this was clearly the work of Lord Poseidon. She stood, not feeling as though she'd been "healed", but she began walking. It looked to be getting close to noon, maybe in two hours, which meant she'd have to hurry if she wanted to make it.

Then again, what would she do? Her armor was gone. All she had to her name was her spear, Maimer, and the clothes on her back.

Clarisse took a long, deep, pained breath, realizing that she was going to have a long day.

But nothing could prepare for what she was to see when she arrived to fight.

xxxXXXxxx

Percy awoke later in the day, around four past noon. He was groggy, and at first, he wasn't quite sure how he got into this comfortable bed, or even what the hell had occurred the previous day. "Oh…everything hurts…" he moaned. "…Why…why does everything hurt so much…?"

He sat up, his chest aching from the brutal hits he'd taken the day prior. He lifted his hand up to his chest, expecting a big-ass scar like he'd gotten the last time Atlas punched him, but he only had welts and that previous scar. Then again, that was on the skin that wasn't bandaged.

"Mmm…" he heard beside him. Annabeth rolled over to see him, her eyes just barely open, a smile on her face. The sun shot through a crack in the curtains, reflecting a strip of light on her hair. "Good morning…"

Percy couldn't help but smile. The disheveled hair, the tiredness and laxness in her voice, the soft expression. Gods, but she was beautiful. And that line, 'good morning', was said with just earnestness, probably because she was still too tired to remember what day it was.

"How are you feeling?" she wondered, closing her eyes again and rolling onto her back.

It was a good question. " _I should be crippled after yesterday,"_ he thought. But he wasn't. Nothing felt broken, even the foot which he swore was shattered from the ankle down from attempting to kick what was, essentially, a face of adamantium.

" _The Achilles Curse helped after all,"_ Riptide mentioned. " _Kept your body from completely shattering."_

" _And ambrosia/nectar,"_ Percy agreed. "I wonder if there's recoil for eating too much ambrosia…" he thought aloud.

"You burst into flames," Annabeth answered, sitting up. She seemed to be more awake now. "And with how much you took, where you should have burst into flames but didn't, maybe something else. So, how are you feeling?"

"Fine, all things considered," Percy said, kissing her cheek. "What about you? How's your wound?"

"I can't feel it aching anymore," she answered. "So I'm good."

"You don't feel…uh…"

"Feel…?" she urged him to finish.

"…There's no subtle way of saying 'poison-y', is there?"

"Not really, and no, I don't feel poison-y," she swung her legs around and stood, stretching her back. Her back was turned to Percy when she looked down, realizing that she was nude. "…Forgot," was all she said, slipping on the necessary undergarments. "I mean, not that it was forgettable or anything," she said, upon turning around and seeing Percy's raised eyebrow.

"Uh-huh. I get it," he sounded offended. The daughter of Athena scoffed.

"Tch, as if you could get any better than me!"

Percy chuckled, standing and slipping on some clothes himself. "No comment," he said. "Come on. We should get to base before someone thinks we've been assassinated or something."

"Right," she agreed. The two silently got dressed. Percy slipped Oathkeeper into its sheathe, which he strapped to his side for easy access. Well, it was no harder to access than on his belt, but he would have to stretch his right arm slightly more if it was on his belt and…nobody cares.

As they walked hand-in-hand to base, the dread of the coming day truly dawned on them, especially with the somber air of the silent city.

The day of the Great Prophecy had come.

"So what's the plan for today?" Percy found himself asking.

"…Don't know. Most of the Titan Army that we know about is iced," Annabeth claimed. "We haven't seen Prometheus since Williamsburg, Atlas is dead…um…" Annabeth got visually disturbed. "I feel like I'm missing something."

"Let's go see the others," Percy suggested. "Maybe they can think of something," Annabeth forced a smile, and let herself be led there. "Zoë?"

They saw the goddess up and about, going over where every cabin would be stationed and key lookout points for her Hunters. Thalia was off to the side, leaning against the wall, not participating. "It's about time you two showed up," Thalia commented, tossing Annabeth a spare brush that was lying around. "What'd you two do, stay up all night?"

Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other awkwardly, between turning away, their cheeks red. "Mm…private stuff," Annabeth claimed. Thalia raised an eyebrow. The daughter of Athena had a feeling that she knew what they were referring to, but she didn't comment further.

When Zoë finally looked up, her eyes zeroed in on Annabeth for a moment, and her jaw slacked for a bit, before she set it. "You are late," she mentioned. "I do not care what you do, but today, of all days, you cannot be late."

"Yes, ma'am," Percy replied. "So, what's with all the planning? What's there to plan for?"

"What?" Zoë looked incredulous. "We must plan against Kronos' last push!" she exclaimed, growing uncharacteristically anxious as she spoke. "He has likely been driven mad with frustration after his prior attempts have failed. He will be sending everything he has at us to achieve his ends. He will likely kill those we have captured indiscriminately."

"I doubt Luke will let him do that," Percy mentioned.

"Luke isn't in control anymore," Thalia reminded him, though she said it more forcefully than he would've expected.

"We can't rely on Luke, Percy," Annabeth agreed. "He's too far gone."

He held his hands up, knowing that he was out-voted on this. "Alright; we move the prisoners back to camp with the Hermes cabin," he suggested. "If we fall, they move to where Chiron is hiding away, and then he can protect them."

"Not a bad plan," Thalia commented. "Takes away a large chunk of our forces though, especially those who are uninjured."

"We have a large number of prisoners," Percy returned, and he wasn't argued against with that. "Are we expecting them to come down Park again?"

"Perhaps, or they might find a way across the river more directly," Zoë mentioned. "My scouts have noticed them peering out across it this morning. Not to mention…" she trailed off, getting a stormy look in her eyes.

"What?"

"It occurs to me that we have not seen the drakons. I know of the two."

"Wouldn't they have been destroyed in the explosion of the Andromeda?"

"No, they cannot be killed. The impact may have been enough to render them out of commission, however," she said hopefully. It was a fool's hope, though.

"But we can't just stab them in the heart, can we?" Percy wondered.

"Even if we could get that close without casualties, its hide may only be pierced by its destined foes."

"My Lady!" Phoebe came dashing in, looking out of breath, likely from a far run. "The Titan Army is mobilizing!"

"What?"

"How'd we not see them prepare?" Percy demanded. Phoebe didn't get a chance to respond.

"Gather the Hunters, have them form a barrier; _no one_ gets into the base before we are ready!" Zoë snapped, losing her composure for a moment. "Thalia, go see what we are dealing with."

"On it," she said, dashing off.

"Ares boy," she referred to Sherman. "If you refuse to fight, then help us arm! Go!"

Despite his reluctance, he wasn't about to refuse the direct orders from a goddess.

"Win," Annabeth got the girl. "We need to go rally the campers," the two charged off.

"I'll go see if I can thin their numbers," Percy started off, only to collapse. It wasn't until now that he realized how much of a toll the previous day had been. He stood wearily, steadying himself.

"You pushed yourself too hard yesterday," Zoë claimed. "Your body is still trying to cope with the Achilles Curse. You should sit out as long as possible."

"You know I can't do that," he returned, taking a deep breath. "Once I get into it, I'll be fine."

"I am not so-"

The two were interrupted. Zoë noticed it through the doorway, and shoved both of them to the ground right as a massive tail swept through and destroyed everything in the room. Percy felt the familiar thrill, adrenaline, and fear course through his veins as he saw the gaping maw of a 230 ft. Lydian Drakon (if you're bad with numbers, that's over fifty feet longer than the original Godzilla monster was tall back in 1954…and about 150 ft. shorter than he is now but whatever) open to eat him.

Zoë and Percy were still sprawled on the ground, not unlike when they were attacked by the Spartoi all that time ago, and were only saved by Thalia's timely arrival, bashing the head away with the shaft of her Regalia spear, charged with electricity for added knockback. Zoë stood and immediately went to back up her lieutenant, while Percy was left in pain.

It wasn't so much that he felt actively injured like from a stab wound, but there was definitely a residual pressure on all of his limbs. His vision spun when he pushed to his hands and knees, as if all of the blood rushed to them to support him. That may very well have been Percy's doing accidentally, in a backwards-ass attempt to return control of his limbs. His ears rang separate from that, from the loud crashes of the drakon's appearance. "Percy!" he thought he heard the muffled calls from somewhere far away. "Percy, get up!" Suddenly, someone was shaking him by the shoulder; it was Winona. Her voice still sounded distant, even as her expression was urgent. Little did Percy know, his position was about to be overrun by a horde of a hundred monsters, all far stronger than the typical Drachanae. "Percy, you need to _move!_ "

Percy finally realized the danger he was in, and it seemed to focus his mind a bit. "I got it! I got it!" he burst to his feet, slowly feeling adrenaline take him. He drew Riptide, though he had nothing to swing it at yet.

Looking back, it all seemed so obvious. The rogue demigods had literally all been sent the previous day to fight; Kronos only had monsters to fight with, and they didn't need sleep or food. He got them into position the night before and waited until everyone was clustered. Let out a red herring to get everyone into that awkward mid-prep scramble where they weren't fit to fight because they had like one shoe and a pauldron on…not that they wore pauldrons because that was a 15th century thing. Then send the biggest thing you had; a drakon, to kill as many demigods as possible in this awkward phase, before sending in the main force to clean up.

As he ran away from the chaos of ten Cyclopes smashing the roadway hard enough to make it collapse right behind him, Percy hated himself. He just _had_ to indulge in his basest desires last night. He couldn't have been here and preparing, listening for the ambush.

" _Hey, you might wanna focus on the task at hand, not lament stupid decisions,"_ Riptide advised. It was right, as they sent not one, but both of their drakons. And hey, they didn't have a single Ares fighter nor did they have the missing third piece for the Big Three kill that they needed to fell either of them.

" _Damage-control,"_ Percy thought, with Win leaving his side to help fight off some monster advancing on some second-years getting their armor on. His eyes flitted frantically from one area to the other, when one caught his eye.

The drakons had destroyed the make-shift prison cells the campers had made for the rogue demigods. Almost half of them were crushed in the fall, but the other half seem relatively unharmed, though unable to free themselves. Call it whatever you want; stupid, brave, fucking stupid, Percy charged toward there.

"Help us!" they cried, probably thinking he was only going for the Aetheronian Drakon that was right behind the half-destroyed cells.

"I am!" Percy growled. "Fight with us!" he pleaded as he cut through the bars. "You saw how Kronos would just throw you away!"

They weren't left with much of a choice; the camp was surrounded and the monsters likely wouldn't be able to tell them apart from the other campers should they try to escape. Still, they accepted it more readily than Percy had been expecting.

He shot water in the ground, in the form of thirty blades for them to use. "They're temporary; find another weapon and push those bastards back! I _promise_ you'll be free if we survive!"

And just like that, the Olympians had a decent fighting force. While not as heavily trained as the campers, the rogue demigods were proficient in the phalanx, which they used expertly to wade through monster hordes, with Percy watching their backs. Thankfully, he didn't have to do much, even as they waded through to the armory, where another large group of campers were gearing up or finding shelter, in the case of the Ares cabin, so that the two forces could meet.

Percy saw Annabeth facing off against the Lydian Drakon, with her, Zoë, and Thalia having switched targets in the chaos. "Keep going to them! Find weapons!"

With that, he dashed through the fight, barely slowing down as he felt Riptide twirl endlessly in his hands, rending through monster flesh, the feeling so natural after so many years of constant fighting. This was where Percy belonged; on the battlefield. This is where he lived and where he died, in many more ways than one.

Annabeth stumbled over some rubble, about to be lunchmeat, when a water-boosted fist shot into the drakon's mouth, and Percy stood his ground along with her. "About time you got off your ass!" she said as the drakon recovered.

"I was busy getting us battle-ready," the son of Poseidon returned, summoning a second blade for himself. "You think you can handle this?"

"You're the one with the shattered body."

" _Nearly_ shattered, thank you very much."

No more time for banter. The drakon charged, and with no way to kill it, the two demigods could only try and hold it off.

The battle wasn't going any better for Zoë and Thalia. They'd taken to the rooftops, along with the Hunters, trying to zone the drakon and try and force it away from the main battle, if only separated by the Hunter closest to the battle in question. Thalia caught quick glimpses of the city around them; most of the buildings were crumbled, if not completely destroyed, all from the drakons' rampage in these first two hours. Yes, two hours is how long the demigods held out, but the monsters kept coming, as if sprouting from Tartarus itself as soon as they died.

" _So he was never planning on beating us yesterday,"_ Thalia thought. " _He only wanted us weak enough to ambush today…and we fell right into that trap…"_ she clenched her teeth, her pride battling with that fact, that she was tricked by the person she should know the best. " _In that way, even Prometheus' betrayal might have been planned."_

In actuality, Prometheus' betrayal wasn't planned, nor was the demigods offensive that day. Kronos just took the next logical step after that to lead to the events that were currently transpiring.

"Damn it all!" Thalia roared, dashing forward and leaping off the building thoughtlessly to ram her spear in the skull of the Aetheronian Drakon, her spear being able to pierce because she was one capable of at least partially dealing the killing blow.

The monster roared right back, either feeling pained or annoyed by Thalia's sudden outrage. Instantly, part of its flesh, its scales on its back, separated, forming a silky texture between them. It had sprouted, more so extended its existing, wings. And it put them to good use, shooting up high into the air. "Thalia!" Zoë yelled, desperately. She did the only thing she could think of, summon her chariot to try and get Thalia to safety. Unfortunately, the drakon's movements were so erratic and fast, that Zoë only succeeded in making the chariot collide with the beast, sending it spiraling out of the air, with Thalia having fallen off at the impact. "Hunters! Rope arrows, net formation!" she called out, her blessing carrying the message through the battle.

It took mere seconds for the net to be formed above the streets, and Thalia landed softly enough. Sadly, the drakon was just a wee bit ticked off at the attack, blaming the daughter of Zeus for it, and diving straight for her.

Thalia could've tried rolling out of the way, but she wouldn't have made it. She instead cloaked herself in lightning, burning through the ropes. Even that wasn't going to be enough.

Zoë made a mad dive out like Thalia had earlier, colliding with the drakon bow-blade first. It didn't cut through the scales, but it was a full-force swing from a goddess who also had Titanic blood coursing through her veins.

The drakon was sent veering wildly off course, scraping down and demolishing the building it tumbled into, evidently landing on a large cluster of monsters and killing them in the process. Thalia fell through the ropes, dazed and in shell-shock from her fall; fear of heights and all. Her fellow Hunters covered her as she slowly recovered, pushing her to relative safety as Winona and Zoë continued the fight against the drakon.

Up until then, Winona had been focused on getting the demigod force active. She'd had a strange moment when a rogue leading a force of thirty of them insisted Percy gave them permission to fight. With the guy's track record she didn't question it much, and once they were ready, she let them go ham, only to see the Hunters struggling against this massive behemoth.

Meanwhile, Percy and Annabeth seemed to be faring…well, about as _well_ as they could. Get it…well? Whatever. They couldn't do any damage to the Lydian drakon, but they managed to zone it pretty hard. It lacked the flight capabilities of the Aetheronian variety, making it much easier to judge who it was going to go after, namely, Percy or Annabeth. The thing that made it dangerous was its sheer, for lack of a better term, numbers; like an enemy in a game. It was 230 feet long, really fast, and really strong. Percy didn't think it was quite as strong as Atlas. In fact, it was nowhere near the Titan in terms of raw power, but it used momentum a lot better with its massive size, namely which the swing of its tail. And the snapping of its jaws.

Percy got stuck holding open a jaw or two in his day (stupid Nemean Lion), but this had the strongest bite of any that could swallow him whole. Percy tried the same strategy he halfway got to use against the Lion, trying to cut out the nerves of the drakon's teeth, but even the fleshy gums were protected against all but who would kill it.

"Gah! This isn't working!" Annabeth claimed, her Trident flashing through multiple monsters who'd thought to engage them as they were distracted. "I actually think there might be more monsters than an hour ago!"

"It's been an _hour_?!" was Percy's super-relevant and focused question.

"Two, actually," Annabeth just kind of accepted it, trying desperately to think of a solution, but it was hard to plan around things that had only one solution. "Find an Ares fighter" was their only plan. At first she thought there might be someone willing in the rogue force, but then, a miracle arrived.

A figure dashed between them, engaging the massive monster alone. "Clarisse?!" Percy exclaimed, immediately confused but all the same reinvigorated by her arrival. " _So father healed you after all?"_

Just like any miracle, though, it was short-lived.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey all! Just to let you know, tomorrow's chapter is gonna be late, because I get off work at 7:30, then I have a fifteen minute drive, I have to do house stuff, then I get to proofread and then I get to upload. So it's gonna be at like 8-ish or later. Just though I'd let you know.**

 **Not much to say about this chapter, other than it's really short compared to the rest in the TLO adaptation. This is because I'd written this and the next chapter at the same time, but...it wasn't meant to be one chapter. I just didn't flow correctly, so I split it up and that seemed to solve things.**

 **Anyway, uh...get ready, boys. It's endgame.**


	61. One Last Stupid Idea

The problem with the picture was readily apparent to Annabeth at least. For Percy, it took a few more seconds and another good look at Clarisse to realize that her spear was nowhere to be found. Instead, she used a sword and shield combo which Clarisse would never go into true battle with unless not a single spear was available. Even then, she'd probably take one from someone else instead of using a sword.

Still, "Clarisse" fought competently, albeit relying heavily of Annabeth and Percy to back her up. The Lydian drakon's movements were as lithe and impossible to predict as ever, but with a few clever reactions, Percy was able to set up "Clarisse" to get some good shots in. This was when he realized it wasn't Clarisse, as the fighter's sword did as little to the drakon as Percy's and Annabeth's were doing.

And thus the miracle ended.

Not only did the attack not work, but the drakon swatter away "Clarisse" right after it failed, knocking her toward the armory, where some campers fled for safety.

"Push it back!" Annabeth called wildly, now knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were dealing with an imposter. Percy reacted, sending out a frantic blast of water which was enough to ward off the drakon. "Thalia!" she called, drawing the attention of the coincidentally close Hunter. Annabeth pointed at the Lydian drakon. "Give me thirty seconds!"

The girl nodded, though unsurely, and proceeded to engage the drakon along with a group of campers, while Zoë, Winona, and the Hunters were busy with the Aetheronian drakon.

"What the hell just happened?" Percy demanded, with the two still having to deal with other monsters. "Who was that?"

"I don't know, but I've got an idea," she returned, getting an intense look in her eye; a more frantic form of the glint she got when thinking through a problem.

"I'll let you work your magic, then," Percy said.

"Oh, we're not actually doing anything," Annabeth said. "But we're going to get Sherman off his lazy ass and fight!"

She dashed off, with Percy close behind.

Silena, "Clarisse," landed close to the armory, where Sherman and the Ares cabin was holed up, armed just in case they had to fight off some straggler monsters that got through. " _Pathetic,"_ Silena thought, knowing she was right, at least with this. She stood, feeling every muscle in her body ache and strain from the tension. This armor was too heavy for her, she hadn't fought, even trained, in a week. She had barely trained at all when off of Lixis. " _Don't think about any of that,"_ she thought, charging back toward the Lydian drakon. " _Look on, children of Ares. This is what a warrior would do; this is what_ Clarisse _would do!"_

She whistled in that specific way for Lixis who, along with the other Pegasi, were fighting a losing battle against aerial monsters, at least without riders. The majestic animal dove down on command, and Silena climbed on top of it, dazzling the Ares cabin even more. To them, it was as if Clarisse had called her best friend's trusted partner to battle alongside it, possibly in her name.

She leaned in close, careful not to let anyone hear her voice, even in the chaos. "Fast, hit-and-run," was all she gave for directions, and then let Lixis do the rest, swooping and sweeping around the Lydian drakon, who was confused by the new annoyance.

"Agro!" Silena heard from below, soon seeing Percy adopt the same strategy. That wouldn't work. Silena pointed upwards with her sword. Percy looked up, seeing the Pegasi about to be overrun without their riders, and he flew up there. The sight drew the eyes of most of the demigod force, with a black-winged rider, shining sea-green with power in the fading light.

Soon, there were many other whistles, also slightly different for riders to call their Pegasi, and then the battle took partially to the air. Percy held off the monsters just long enough to let them arrive, before returning to the main battle. He swept over it, examining it and serving as a sort of symbol of power to the Olympians. "I'm still flying," he conveyed with the symbol. "So we can still fight."

Then he saw Thalia and Zoë struggling against the other big dragon-type monster that was threatening them.

Annabeth dashed over to the armory as fast as she could, even after Percy's departure to the skies. "Sherman!" she called. "Get your ass out here!"

"Go away!" he growled, trying to keep control of his cabin, who were all itching to fight after seeing "Clarisse" take to the skies and battle the Lydian drakon basically single-handedly. "If it wasn't for you, we'd be back in camp right now!" he accused blindly, even knowing that it didn't make any sense to say that. He was so desperate not to give into his inner warrior after the loss of his counselor.

Annabeth wasn't gonna take that shit, however. She grabbed the man by the shirt, and pulled him close, pointing to "Clarisse." "Do you see that?! That's your leader fighting for her goddamn life to protect your pathetic hides!" she yelled in his face, getting the cabin even more riled up. "Are you gonna run away and leave her to die _again_?!"

"I…I…" Sherman hesitated, sweating dripping down the sides of his face. Annabeth let go. Sherman gave a glance to either side, seeing the anticipation in their eyes. Then he got a little of it into his own. "We fight for Ares!" he roared, somewhat timidly, but it served its purpose.

The Ares cabin charged alone against the Lydian drakon. Surely, one of them would be able to deal with killing blow, right?

xxxXXXxxx

The real Clarisse sprinted through city streets, having heard the battle start long ago with deafening roars of beasts she could only imagine. She knew she needed to hurry. She'd been running for nearly eight hours now, and her lungs were understandably on fire.

Still, she forged ahead, knowing that ruin would ensue if she didn't make it there on time. And as any demigod worth their salt knew, if one got a feeling, it was usually right.

xxxXXXxxx

Percy and Thalia, along with Zoë and the Hunters, fared quite poorly against the Aetheronian Drakon. Not only was Percy unable to fight properly, resorting to hit-and-run distractions with Agro, but Zoë and the Hunters weren't even able to damage it.

"Damn it…" Percy muttered to himself.

" _Perhaps an all-or-nothing dive is in order!"_ Agro reared back.

"Can't think of anything else!" Percy agreed reluctantly as the Pegasus gained height rapidly. Unfortunately, the drakon caught on fast, seeing Agro as likely a piece of food or something. Either way, it followed them up. "Not good! Not good! Mayday!" Percy cried as he and Agro weaved through a whirlwind of claws, spikes, and teeth. Finally, they escaped from it. Agro had sustained a major gash on his side and one of his back legs was mangled to hell. "We need to land.

" _Nonsense, peasant!"_ Agro seemed as raring to go as ever, though he began to lose altitude, until the Pegasus fell completely unconscious from blood loss.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Percy repeated over and over, hanging on for dear life. "Father!" he yelled. "Give me water!"

" _Why?"_ he thought he heard him ask directly.

"I _need_ it!" Percy screamed, even as he saw the ground fast approaching.

Somewhere on Olympus, a fountain burst with an infinite amount of water at an insurmountable rate. It flooded Olympus in its entirety, and then fell off of it, falling down far faster than Percy and Agro, straight into the street below, filling up in mere seconds. But it was only a block of water; it didn't seep down into the river.

Percy landed in it, feeling drained and praying that it would rejuvenate him. Agro landed as well, his wounds not healing; Percy didn't have the strength to help him. Percy saw a big shadow approach, wondering what it was. Then he realized; the drakon was still after him.

Percy shot himself out of harm's way, dodging and weaving through its mess of half-aimed swipes and bites. He tried to restrain it in this liquid, even tried taking control of its blood. Both didn't work, though Percy chalked that up to his powers being mostly drained from the previous day, as he felt some resistance when he tried both. He just lacked the power necessary to make the plan come to fruition.

The Aetheronian Drakon made a mad dash towards the son of Poseidon, who was in mid-heal at that point, when it was grabbed. By…shadows?

The drakon struggled for a moment, before being yanked back and out of the block of water, allowing Percy time to heal properly, quickly regaining his stamina in the short period of calm. He then commanded the water to at least partially heal Agro as well.

He burst out of the block of water as the drakon was rammed into its brother, the shadows retracting back into the awesome power of that Stygian Iron sword that Percy had never been so happy to see. "Bianca!" he exclaimed.

"Hiya!" she greeted cheerily. "You looked like you could use a hand."

"Yeah, that's an understatement," Percy returned, seeing the drakon had found a new target; the daughter of Hades. Meanwhile, Percy noticed the Lydian Drakon was winning its battle with "Clarisse," the Ares cabin, and Annabeth. "Think you can handle it?"

"Psh, is that a question, hero?" the girl gave a thumbs.

Percy nodded, not knowing how to react to this new confidence, before dashing off, not wanting anything bad to happen to the others.

Bianca and Thalia stood, ready, more or less, to face down the Aetheronian Drakon. "So, on a scale of one to dead, how you are feelin' right now?" Bianca wondered as it started charging.

"Too soon, Bianca," Thalia reminded her, before they had to dash apart, Bianca slashing with her blade on the way past, Thalia diving completely out of the way while the Hunters and Zoë flanked it. The beast whirled toward where the new wound was inflicted; with a bit of its soul seeping out before completely retracting back in as Bianca followed through on the attack. Brotherhood needed to remain in contact to completely steal the soul, unfortunately.

In any case, the drakon didn't seem all that dazed from it, and swiped where Bianca's head was just a millisecond before, only to get an electric spear stabbed into its side, raking up its scales to its back from Thalia's jump onto it.

The monster writhed, now feeling a bit overwhelmed with two major threats and a hundred annoyances on its hands.

The other drakon, however, was handily winning its fight. Even with everyone there, its sheer size and speed was enough to keep it from being zoned as easily as its brother was. Percy did his best to keep its attention, but all the Ares campers managed was short stabs, opting to remain behind their phalanx rather than go for a more aggressive approach.

Things took a turn for the worse when the drakon finally broke through that defensive strategy, hooking its tail around after shaking off Percy and Annabeth, and slapping the Ares cabin in the back, sending each of them flying and colliding into each other.

Many of them fell to its tail spikes; being gashed pretty badly on the back doesn't exactly sit well. Winona, who was also there after leaving Zoë and the Hunters, ordered whatever campers were still able and got the injured out of the battle as quickly as possible, back to the armory, which was quickly becoming overloaded with casualties; almost half of the campers' forces were injured, and a few were dead.

That was a few too many in Percy's book, but he couldn't do anything to stop it, not with the lackluster amount of energy he had, especially when knowing that this wasn't to be his last battle today.

"Clarisse" leapt from Lixis to the drakon's back, trying to distract it from the wounded, and it didn't much like that. It shook violently, its writhing enough to ward off Percy and the remnants of the Ares cabin. Finally, "Clarisse" flew off, and then was caught. The drakon spun around like a snake and then rent through the warrior, completely severing her left leg and right arm, her sword arm, along with a major cut to her side. The blow also knocked her helmet off, and the stunned look of half-pain and half-relief became clear on Silena's face.

xxxXXXxxx

Clarisse, the real one, arrived at the battle just faster enough to see horror. She didn't have a tragic story about coming to camp. Her quest was more painful for the idiots who left without permission than her. She had been content at camp, all things considered. The point is; she had never prepared for this.

She saw Silena's helmet, Clarisse's own, fly off, along with her leg and arm, before slamming down to the ground, bouncing, creating a crater, and then tumbling a few more times, before coming to a stop. Each hit stained the ground with blood.

A familiar yet totally alien feeling emerged with Clarisse right then. It was rage. Pure rage of the most bestial nature. Her vision turned red as she screamed, louder than the roar of triumph let out by the monster who'd felled her closest friend. Her spear raised high, Clarisse charged into battle, tearing through the monster army until she made it to that creature.

She didn't care what she had to do. She knew that she wanted this thing dead, even if she herself died achieving that end.

Clarisse rammed her spear into the beast's hide, feeling little resistance in the creature's skin like it was putty. It reared back, dragging her along with it. It clawed at her, but its claws scrapped against her skin and shattered, almost as if it had turned to steel from her fury, though her weapon didn't have the same luxury, being torn to shreds from the attack.

That wouldn't stop her.

Her cabinmates roared along with her, becoming cloaked in that red glow, though that could've been Clarisse's anger clouding it. Together, they drove the beast back into the building behind it, making it crash into it with their combined power. The daughter of Ares, with his blessing, stepped back and then went to land the finishing blow. She knew such an act would cripple her body, possibly forever, but she did it anyway.

She dashed forward, faster than she knew she could move, and leapt, feet first. She was like a bullet, and she pierced right through and crushed the drakon's heart with her bare hands. Of course, in doing so, she'd shattered her legs straight up just punching through the drakon's hide.

Her cabinmates pulled her out, blood-soaked, not from the drakon's remains, as it just burst into monster dust, but from the rubble of the building she'd collapsed when she kicked it. She couldn't feel her legs, but that single moment of glory and rage was worth it to her.

She was dragged toward where Silena lay, barely alive.

Percy and Annabeth kneeled over her, shell-shocked by what happened. "Get away from her!" Clarisse spat. "Don't even _think_ about touching her, you bastards!"

"C-Clarisse, I-" Percy started. She saw the regret clouding his eyes, but she didn't give a damn.

"No!" she roared once again. "This is your fault!"

Percy set his jaw at her scathing remark, not arguing because it was mostly true. " _If I'd given her a second chance, like everyone else told me to…"_ he thought.

Through the hatred seeping from Clarisse, and the sadness coming from Percy and Annabeth, Silena was smiling, content. "It's…alright…" she said weakly. "Charlie…I…." she reached her remaining hand up toward the sky. Clarisse took her hand and held it tight.

"Don't worry, Silena. We'll…" she choked back tears. "We'll get you out of this…we'll…"

The light slowly faded from Silena's eyes, and in a matter of seconds, she was gone.

Percy never got to apologize, never got to make it up to her for how horribly he'd acted after he found out her secret. The son of Poseidon resigned himself to that fact then and there, and he knew it would haunt him to the end of his days, just like Tyson's death, and that first battle with Atlas would. Annabeth put a hand on Percy's shoulder.

"We need to go," she said softly, obviously being just as distraught as Percy was feeling. He nodded numbly, trying desperately to shift his mind from the oddly horrifying smile on Silena's face.

The two raced back toward the remaining battle. Well, one of them; the campers and Hunters were now engaged with the remainder of the Titan Army, while Zoë, Thalia, and Bianca were tasked with the remaining drakon. Annabeth made a mental note that the others would be fine handling the main force, and elected to concentrate on the big kaiju-like monster ahead of them.

Right when they arrived, Bianca was being pushed back, as Thalia and Zoë had been hit away and into a building by an attack while they were close. The drakon clawed at Bianca, but Annabeth jumped in front of her without hesitation, as she once may have shown towards the younger demigod. She blocked the attack with her Aegis shield as Percy leapt in front of her, slashing through its arm several times before Annabeth blocked a reactionary swipe from its other arm, allowing Bianca to get a few good slashes onto its chest. It reared back, but Bianca acted fast, shooting her blade into whip form and whipping it around the creature's neck.

Bianca let herself be pulled, using the momentum to land on its back, tugging back and making the creature expose its chest. Percy caught on, and wrapped a water whip around one of its arms (he'd do both, but he wasn't sure if his body could handle that), and tugged it to the side. Once Zoë and Thalia returned to the fight a second later, Zoë threw her grapple around the other arm and tugged it to the opposite side as Percy.

Annabeth gestured for Thalia to run at her. Thalia jumped up slightly, just enough to land on Aegis. While in the air, she cloaked herself in lightning, and used it to further propel herself up and forward, in addition to Annabeth's push. She spun in the air from the momentum and then rammed her spear straight through the beast's chest, in fact coming out on the other side.

But the heart remained undamaged. The drakon, in a rage, shook free of its restraints and flew up into the air to recover and get some distance.

"Damn it! Nothing's working!" Thalia growled, clearly frustrated that they haven't been able to put it down yet.

"Calm down," Zoë ordered, breathing deeply from fatigue; she'd probably taken a bigger beating than the rest of them combined, at least in this battle, yet she was the most composed. "You three," she pointed to the children of the Big Three. "Need to combine your powers and end this. It's the only way."

"We've been trying," Bianca claimed. "That back there was all three of us working-"

"How about a big fuck-off explosion?" Percy interrupted. All eyes turned to him.

"You have an idea?" Annabeth wondered, surprised that she'd come up with nothing as well.

"You remember when we played volleyball?" Percy wondered.

"And I whupped both your butts," Bianca recalled. "With my expert blocking-"

"I say we should spike all at once."

Thalia's eye twitched. "That has got to be the stupidest idea you've ever come up with."

"Well, it will have to do," Zoë said, seeing the drakon landed and start snarling at them. "Young Annabeth, you and I will distract the beast."

"R-right," Annabeth quickly followed her order.

The three made their way to a high point. Thalia and Bianca stood on either rooftop, while Percy submerged himself with the still-there block of water that was summoned by Poseidon. With this, he was able to both build up power for the last stupid idea, and heal and recover stamina at the same time. The signal to launch would be when Percy emerged.

Soon, three massive spheres of lightning, darkness, and water were building density. Very quickly, the drakon caught on. While it was unlike most monsters in that it was essentially a wild animal, it knew a threat when it saw one.

It soared towards the children of the Big Three, but Zoë wouldn't let it arrive. She leapt onto the creature's back and wrapped her grapple around its neck, pulling back, making it rear up and above the three. It took everything they had to remain focused on building up power. Another thirty seconds would be enough.

Zoë clung desperately to the rope, and managed to steer the drakon down, crashing it back where it had first noticed the three charging, and right in their line of fire. There, she was flung off, and wasn't able to correct her course, crashing into the ground below with no instant way of getting up to the monster.

Thankfully, that Annabeth was a brilliant and insane woman. "Let me borrow your chariot," she'd said right as they ran to fight alone. "I'll only be a minute," Turns out, she jumped off of it. It was a spectacular dive, Olympic (hehe) medal-worthy. "Incoming!" she yelled. The drakon didn't get a chance to see where it was coming from before Annabeth crashed right into the drakon's head, shield first. Thankfully, the special properties of the shield absorbed most of the damage from the fall, with Annabeth only suffering a dislocated shoulder from it.

The result for the drakon was much worse, sending it tumbling down into the ground in a daze. Zoë acted fast, using her godly archery abilities to shoot fifty rope arrows around the beast, entangling it and keeping it close to the ground, unable to flee the attack which was ready and raring to go.

Percy emerged from the water, completely revitalized for about the fifth time that battle. He gave a quick glance to either side of him, feeling incredible pressure from both sides. The three charged forward as one, and leapt up as one.

Time slowed for Percy, as if every single one of his ideas and accomplishments had led him here, to this pinnacle moment of glory. If Atlas was to be considered a personal victory, this was his biggest to the campers, to the Greeks.

The wolf, the ram, and the eagle slammed their palms into their spheres, sending them all flying and colliding into one another, combining to form a ball of pure energy, aether, if you will.

The drakon could only watch and roar as the sphere, bigger than it, engulfed it and exploded in a four-block radius. Thank the gods that this particular battle had been driven away from the others, or else they'd be toast.

Zoë, knowing she wouldn't be killed by the attack, quickly shoved Annabeth to the ground and used her own body to shield the demigod, with Annabeth taking it one step further and using Aegis to partially shield Zoë as well. It was a wonder that they weren't shot out somewhere into Queens from the blast.

When the explosion faded, the drakon was nowhere to be seen, vaporized.

In the time between this and the five regrouping, Winona and the other campers and Hunters had cleaned up the rest of the Titan Army. At least, that's what they thought.

"What are you still doing here?!" Winona demanded of Percy when she saw him.

"W-what?" he was too tired and confused to be expected to know. "I was-"

"Kronos got through!" Winona exclaimed.

"Where were we?!" Percy asked, somewhat stupidly. He meant "where was the main force?"

"Trying to survive, obviously," Winona said. Percy wasn't even sure if he could stand, let alone fight. The others looked about the same, except for Bianca, who'd just arrived. For a brief, morbid moment, he thought of killing himself right then. The prophecy would be delayed, and Bianca would be able to stop Kronos in Percy's place.

But then, despite himself, he stood, Annabeth right along with him. "I'm going with you," she said resoundingly. He nodded, his mind both racing and stagnant. Then Thali and Zoë saw something horrible.

"Oh gods…" Thalia muttered. Percy and Annabeth were about to turn around, when Thalia and Zoë pushed them down. Zoë shielded Annabeth once again, and Thalia shielded Percy. Bianca protected herself and Winona with her shadows. He only registered what happened after the fact.

A fresh wave of monsters arrived, and sent a monstrously huge volley of arrows down onto the people they saw; that small group.

Blood and ichor spurt onto Percy and Annabeth. Percy saw the most pained look on Thalia's face as she took arrow after arrow, each sapping her strength more than the last, all in the span of less than a second.

Then, three pierced the back of her head, near the end of the volley, and she fell on top of Percy, dead.

 **Author's Note:**

 **I'm not proofreading tonight because I really wanna play Fire Emblem.**

 **Quick rundown; I realize this outcome is similar to the book; Beckendorf and Silena are both dead, Clarisse kills the drakon out of rage for the latter's death, and Thalia is put out of commission for the final battle between Percy and Annabeth, and Luke and Kronos up on Mount Olympus. I get it. I have an explanation, which I'll save for the finale.**

 **In terms of music choices; for the majority of the battle I listened to things by Two Steps From Hell; epic orchestral stuff. For the final part where the three Big Three kids combine their powers, I definitely drew inspiration from the final point from the third season of Haikyuu, and I imagine the song for the last point, "Battle of Concepts" playing over that final attack to kill the drakon.**

 **Lastly, the finale chapter may be postponed until my next days off. I hate the excuse of "I have to be inspired to write" because that's just an excuse to be lazy. The fact is that I want to get the best product out to you guys, and to do that, I'll need to time to make it good besides just writing it out. I'm making good headway, but this is by far the hardest I've worked on a chapter, and I don't think it'll be done by...I think it'll be Monday. I'm not waiting to be inspired, I'm not waiting at all. I work seven to eight hours a day, I come home, and I want to do things and have to do others. Sorry if this is sounding like whining, because my life is not that hard, but I need to maintain my life outside of this story as well; otherwise, depression upon finishing it might set in. This includes things like gaming and family/friend stuff, for better or worse. That's the reality a lot of writers face when confronted with the idea of finishing a product.**

 **So, with all of that said, I might need a few more days to get a good like five hour chunk of pure, focused writing time. Thank you all for your understanding, and I hope you enjoy the big "fuck you" cliffhanger at the end of tomorrow's chapter as you wait for the final battle.**

 **See ya!**


	62. Desire For All That Is Lost

That morning…

"Brother, we've lost too many of our own. We should send a select few and attempt to sneak by for the best chance," Krios argued against the plan already set in motion. He knew his lord could stop it if he so desired.

" **No, brother,** " Kronos remained calm. " **You fail to understand the importance of this endeavor.** "

"What importance?" Krios questioned. "Our goal is toppling Olympus above all else, not their children!"

" **Should we fail to kill them here, they will fester and grow. The gods remain stagnant; their children are variable…left unchecked, their will seize the Heart right out from under us once we acquire it,** " Kronos remained adamant, but he only explained halfway. The truth was that the boy, Luke, was still resisting, for much the same reason as Krios. He wanted them to live. Kronos knew he couldn't let himself be altered because of this mortal's petty emotions. Should he give in, he'd be giving up a part of himself to the mortal.

"Pft," Krios simply gave up. "Fine; I'm guessing after my show yesterday, you aren't even going to properly reward me with troops of my own for defense, now are you?"

Kronos seemed almost amused by that question. " **Your show? You put the boy into a fit, and he did your work. I owe you nothing,** " he argued. " **Besides, they lack the power or coordination to topple you with what remains here. It's a shame what has befallen the Aduro since their empire fell. Even the Greeks are better off.** "

Krios didn't argue further, not wanting his brother and lord to degrade him any more. In Kronos' eyes, the Titan was lucky to have been put in charge of guarding his throne. Without another word, Kronos bounded off, disappearing from sight within seconds using his time dilation to get to New York, and Olympus, before the battle ends there.

A few hours later, Krios was awoken by loud thundering, growing louder. Before he was ready, he saw small shadows approaching, demigods charging toward him. Two stood above them, or rather floated above them. "Twelfth Legion!" they roared as one. "Attack!"

xxxXXXxxx

It had all happened so fast…By the time Thalia's weight hit Percy, he was in shock once again. " _Another friend I could never say goodbye to…"_ he thought numbly as her weight shifted and she slid off of him. The remnants of the Titan Army, numbering perhaps just a hundred to a hundred-fifty, approached, their rumblings making the ground shake slightly. This was their true final push, or so they could assume...no, only hope.

Percy rolled onto his hands and knees. "This isn't how it was all supposed to happen…" he muttered. Beckendorf, Silena, and now Thalia too… "This _can't_ be how it happens…"

Zoë was more distraught than him. There was an unspoken connection between Artemis and her lieutenant, perhaps as close as lovers. Zoë had shown a similar level of stunned grief when the original Artemis had died, though this time she was silent. She was bent over Thalia's body, silently weeping. Seeing someone who Percy had known to be so strong nearly broke him as well.

Bianca seemed the least affected. She couldn't tell you how she knew, but she could name the date of someone's death…sometimes. For people under prophecy, like Percy, she wouldn't be able to tell you. Or those who would be given a prophecy in the future, if the trend she'd found was true anyway. Like she could've said when Michael Yew would die, or Katie Gardner, or Ethan.

Still, knowing that Thalia was to die tonight didn't help but make her even more pissed off. She knew the daughter of Zeus was to die, but she didn't deserve a death so unceremonious. That wasn't befitting of her, for everything she'd done.

She turned to the Titan army. "They'll pay for this," Winona said beside her, that heat and light forming in her hands again. For a split second, Bianca thought she was losing control of her unknown powers, but then the light coalesced into a stunningly beautiful bow, matching Zoë's. The two girls nodded to each other, and then charged toward the army.

"Z-Zoë, I…" Percy went to comfort her, somehow, but he was too slow.

Zoë let out a yell, tears streaming down her face. She completely lost control, her Divine Form flickering so dangerously close to constant and deadly that Percy was terrified, for the first time, of her. She burst to her feet, still yelling, and charged the Titan Army as well. Percy reached after her, but she was already gone.

"We need to go," Annabeth said, almost robotically. It was obvious she was trying to be strong, for Percy's sake. He wanted so badly to breakdown right then, but he needed to be strong too, for her sake.

He nodded slowly and stood, taking one last look at Thalia. If she could say anything to him, he'd bet it would be something like "Now we're even."

With an army approaching them, and another half of an army to fight through to get to Kronos and Olympus, Percy left the mortal plane with his beloved, beginning the trek to Olympus.

xxxXXXxxx

Bianca was the first to make contact. She saw another Titan, separate from Kronos himself. Hyperion, Titan of the East, power, and light. Strange, he didn't look it. In fact, he was the most normal-looking of all the Titan's they'd encountered, with normal eyes, and normal skin.

Hyperion looked amused. "Ha! Is this all you have to send me?" he questioned when he saw Bianca and Winona. "Find me a worthy challenge! I demand-oof!" he was interrupted by Bianca not actually stopping to hear him postulate, instead slamming her blade against his armor, which was made of stuff too tough to break with a single blow.

The attack was enough to send him sprawling into his troops, where they were met with a taste of their own medicine, as not only did Winona send down a volley of arrows with her fancy new godly bow, but Zoë did as well just a moment later, thinning their numbers considerably already.

Before they knew it, the Titan Army was cut in half, with Bianca taking care of even more before Hyperion stood, dragging them to Tartarus with her shadows.

Hyperion stood, wiping ichor from his mouth and pulling out a few arrows from his armor. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" he questioned. They didn't give a response. Little did he know that they were well past talking it out.

The three wasted no time. Winona picked up the ability to alter her bow into a bow-blade like Zoë's, and the three went on an all-out offensive against the Titan. This time, ready for the assault, Hyperion handily parried each of their blows. Zoë lasted the longest, vaulting over his counter and kicking him backwards, allowing her allies to recover and rejoin the fray.

Bianca weaved between Zoë and Hyperion and let her shadows erupt from her, piercing the Titan's armor in its joints, making it crack, before enveloping Zoë and herself in shadows, taking them away from the volley of sunlight arrows rained down by Winona.

It was odd for the young girl; her senses had never been as heightened as they were in this battle. The light guided her every move, showing her where to aim instinctively. Was _this_ what Zoë saw when she fought? Was this untold power of the gods, which Winona had fought for so long to keep under control, really appealing to her whims so easily?

Perhaps not in the entire battle, but when she was firing arrows, and when she saw the light burn from her hands and heat up the air around her, everything felt right to Winona.

Too bad it wouldn't last.

The armor shattered from that last volley, so quickly ending the prelude to the real fight which Hyperion had wanted to savor.

As soon as the armor was gone, Hyperion exploded in a blinding light, sending Winona, still in the air from her volley, flying back. She landed, with Bianca being blasted close to her. Zoë was the only one able to stand her ground from the outburst of power.

"You damned Olympians…" Hyperion's voice changed, with it more resembling Atlas' now; a deep, resonant sound which shook one to the very core. "You think of yourselves too highly…"

"I could say the same of you, Titan," Zoë had to avert her eyes from keep from blinding herself as he settled into his new form. Made entirely of light, like a small sun in the shape of a man. His light burned so intensely that he made charred footprints in the cement with each step.

Zoë readied her bow and took the time to look at her surroundings. Her Hunters had thinned out the monsters by a considerable amount, in addition to the damage the main three had done at the start.

Winona stood, shaky from her fall. "What is he?"

"This is the true form of Hyperion," Zoë answered. "Truly, he embodies light itself."

"Thanks for the info," Bianca said, letting her shadows protrude from her own, rising from the ground. She shot them toward the Titan with the intention of restraining him in some way, but the shadows dissipated from the unreal light before they even got close. "…Well, that didn't work as expected."

"Your shadows will be useless in this fight," Winona said.

"As will you moon and sunlight arrows," Hyperion claimed. "I _am_ light; you cannot harm me with them."

"Then we have no choice but to brute-force it!" Bianca claimed, charging forward.

"Bianca, no!" Zoë called, but she was already there. Bianca swung her blade into Hyperion, who held up his hand lazily. Bianca's Brotherhood didn't make it there either. It was stopped. A distortion around Hyperion became visible when Bianca's blade struck it with the intention of cutting through the Titan himself. Bianca was bounced back violently. She crashed into the nearest building, stunned from the forcefulness of the repel. "Curse it all!" Zoë tried to get to Bianca, but Hyperion held out his hand, sending out a beam of pure light. While it wasn't the most physically potent form of energy, not like fire or water or electricity, it was still a stream of energy being shot from a Titan.

It collided with Bianca, the light having physical force. She didn't even have the chance to raise her blade to block it, with the beam literally moving at the speed of light. She cried out in agony, being shot straight through the pile of rubble she created.

"Bastard!" Zoë knew she couldn't help Bianca, so she charged straight for the Titan, hoping to avert his attention away from the demigod.

Zoë's weapon managed to punch through the initial barrier, but Hyperion was still as fast and capable as in his sealed form, easily weaving through her attacks and knocking her back. Zoë landed on her feet a good ten meters away from him, and leapt out of instinct, just as the Titan of power shot a blast of light at the goddess.

Winona, meanwhile, tended to Bianca. She'd been shot through multiple layers of rubble from the blast, and a metal beam had shot through her side, impaling her. Bianca was conscious through this, and let out choked gargles. Winona kept calm; she was used to doing so when seeing such heavy injuries. The first step was taking the metal pole out, which Bianca was obviously more than happy to do…not.

Winona had to pin her down while doing it, keeping her Stygian Iron sword away from her and trusting her not to impale her with shadows. It came out somewhat smoothly. "No punctured organs…I think…" Winona muttered, not being able to get a good feel for the situation with Bianca's squirming. "Sorry, Bianca…" she let her hands alight, letting them heat up. "But we need you right now."

Winona then dug her palms into the wound on both sides. It only lasted a couple of seconds, but the wound was cauterized. Bianca stopped moving. Bianca did a check; her heart was beating, very fast in fact. Her breathing started soon, heavy and labored.

"Come on, Firefly," Winona pleaded, slapping her lightly on the face. "You're gonna be fine, but we need you right now."

"No…" Bianca moaned as she sat up.

"You _need_ to help us," Winona argued.

"No," Bianca repeated. "We need my father."

"Yeah, fat chance," Winona said, helping Bianca stand. "I'll guard as best I can; you need to get in there and do some damage. From what it looked like, he has to physically put up the shield, so if you can catch him off guard-"

"Hey pops!" Bianca yelled suddenly, making Winona jump. "We need you! Get your ass up here _now_!" she ordered.

"There you are!" light burst through the cover they'd had, revealing Hyperion. Zoë was a ways away, recovering from a particularly nasty attack which had seared her right arm to the point of near uselessness. "I was beginning to wonder if you had fallen so easily. To think, you struck fear into my army."

"For good reason," another voice emerged right after, right behind the Titan. He whirled around, but saw nothing. "If I were you, I wouldn't have the courage to face her alone."

"What the hell?" Hyperion questioned. "Hades?!"

He appeared behind Hyperion, taking his helmet off. "You called?" he wondered. The Titan spun around again, only to be socked in the jaw (which didn't actually exist anymore but you get the idea) by the Big Three god. Hyperion was sent flying into his troops. Hades dug for earwax, bored. "Pick yourself up, why don't you?"

"What the _hell_ are you doing here?!" Hyperion demanded. "You shouldn't be helping the Olympians! They hate you!"

"That's true," he conceded. "Which is why I'm here instead of fighting that ridiculous beast Typhon; too flashy for my tastes, if you know what I mean."

"If that's the case, then why don't you just crawl back into your hole?" the Titan held out his hand and shot Hades with a beam of light, only for him to disappear with his Helm of Darkness.

"Because, lightshow," Hades appeared behind the Titan again. "My hatred for you cretins is far more powerful an urge than my distain for my brothers and sisters."

"Then it's a shame," Hyperion wasn't fazed, sending out a burst of light in all directions. "Perhaps you could've joined us. But now…now, I will have to go ahead and destroy you and take the Underworld for myself!"

"Trust me, you don't want that," Hades returned, though he knew he couldn't out-power Hyperion. He needed to stall for time, until Bianca was ready to execute the finishing blow. Artemis, as Hades had seen, was rather useless at this point. That strange girl with Apollo's essence in her could be a viable meat-shield, however.

" _No,"_ Hades thought. " _No more demigods need fall today…"_ he chuckled to himself. " _Pft…you're growing too soft, Hades. Perhaps this will be the chance to harden up more!"_

xxxXXXxxx

They fought like the legends of old. Up the stairs, one sword/dagger swing at a time, Percy and Annabeth danced together for the first time, though not in the way they'd imagine. They weaved around one another, perfectly in sync. One couldn't outshine the other, but all monsters fell before their collective might.

It would only stand to reason, then, that they were weakest when they were apart. In the brief times that this was the case, when a particularly large group of enemies presented itself and one of them had to push ahead to attack from the backside, they found themselves struggling.

The problem with this plan, of the staircase, was that if monsters were already on it, the gods couldn't shorten the length for the demigods, as it would shorten the trip for the monsters as well and defeat the entire purpose.

"This is taking too long!" Percy said to Annabeth as she ducked around him to slash through a monster's throat. "Kronos might be there already!"

"I'm up for ideas!" Annabeth returned, too busy to plan with trying to fight through this half-army.

"Can a Pegasus make it there faster?" was Percy's only idea.

"I don't know. Wanna find out?"

Percy nodded. "Agro!" he called. The Pegasus came tearing through the sky upon the call, dashing right through the wave of enemies in front of them, knocking them off. " _You called, peasant?"_

"Surprised you're still flying, Agro," Percy noted, climbing on after Annabeth. He took a glance at his deepest cut, which was much shallower than Percy recalled it was before.

" _Perhaps your control of water is useful yet!"_ Agro noted. " _Now we ascend!"_

"Dude, you're like four years late to that revelation," Percy noted.

"Stick close to the stair case," Annabeth ordered. "If we drift too far away, they'll disappear from our view and we'll have to start from the bottom."

" _Understood!"_ Agro dashed up, with both Percy and Annabeth taking either side to defend. Annabeth seemed to be struggling from the short reach of her weapon. Percy formed a spear from his water and gave it her. It would hold, so long as he was near her. Forward they went, with Agro putting in work, performing wild corkscrews which launched the monsters either off the side to their deaths or up into the air, where Percy and Annabeth punished them with their weapons.

Ahead, some bigger monsters blocked their path; Laistrygonian Giants, along with another wave of Scythian Dracanae. It was the same group from Percy's second summer, where he worked on his receive against them.

Needless to say, they didn't look very happy, and they wielded those same metal dodgeballs from before. "Agro, dodge!" Percy yelled, jumping off onto the stairs in a frenzy. Just as he suspected, the Giants ignored Annabeth and still aimed at him.

Unfortunately, Percy also landed in the very center of the Dracanae. He immediately began tearing through them, being careful to avoid exposing his weak point. Out of the corner of his eye, Percy saw Annabeth's spear glow, as if Percy's heightened adrenaline from the fight was affecting it. He also saw Agro start flying straight toward them.

"Move!" Annabeth yelled.

Percy shot himself upward with his water, well above the crash area. The impact cracked the stairs and sent a good portion of the wave flying. Those that weren't taken care of completely were treated to Annabeth's spearmanship, performing wide slashes which caused water arcs far larger than what should've been created to catch the massive group of monsters. The way she slashed forced the monsters in a big mob; perfect for a direct cut-through, but Agro would be torn to shreds if she tried that.

"Seaweed Brain, give me a boost! Hurry!" she reared back for a throw, like a javelin. Percy obliged, adding as much power as he dared to the spear. Annabeth threw it, releasing a massive, piercing wave of energy cutting through the monsters, including the Laistrygonian Giants. Percy landed on the stairs dashing up them, and Annabeth picked him up.

"How the hell did you do that?!" Percy demanded, with them already fighting through more monsters.

"I don't know!" Annabeth admitted, now back to her dagger. "It just felt like you were telling me to do it!"

And that was that. Then, another big monster appeared. Well, two, and one of them held nostalgic value for the demigod. The other was a dickhead, or…six dickheads, if that makes sense.

Suddenly, with Olympus in sight, Agro was caught. First by the hoof: he whinnied frantically, trying to get away. Percy couldn't even see what had grabbed the Pegasus before both he and Annabeth were whipped violently off. One of Agro's wings was damaged by the monster who'd grabbed him. Agro himself was kicked away, off of the stairs. "Agro!" Percy yelled desperately. He thought that he might be able to grab the Pegasus with his water, but that would've taken too long considering the situation.

Percy had to cut his losses, and turned to the matter at hand. Luckily, Lixis appeared and helped ease Agro's fall, letting him live, but Percy didn't know that, nor could he dwell on it.

He rolled out of the way of a massive, blunt club coming down onto the stairs where he'd been laying, dazed. He looked up at the Minotaur, reformed after only four years. Percy grit his teeth, feeling nauseous. "Been a while," Percy said to the mindless beast, standing a wiping some dirt from his face. He raised his blade. "Come on! I killed you once, and I'll do it again!"

The truth was that Percy felt like he could collapse at any moment. The Achilles Curse was all but useless when Percy was this fatigued already. He'd used most of his power to kill that damned drakon. He doubted he could make a water spout at this point, especially after having powered-up Annabeth's prior attack on instinct because she'd told him to.

"Percy!" Annabeth called, shifting his attention to the other monster that was guarding the gates to Olympus. Percy saw a massive reptilian beast, with six dragon-like heads attached to Nessie-esque necks, along with twelve legs that moved far more like the tentacles of an octopus than actual legs.

Scylla; a beast which Kronos had either forcibly taken from its place in the Sea of Monsters, or had convinced to come, possibly promised revenge against the witch that had turned her from a beautiful woman to this monster. Annabeth held up Aegis, which had warded her off briefly, but now the daughter of Athena definitely needed backup.

Just then, the Minotaur attacked. Percy barely held up his blade to block the blow, but he was sent tumbling across the stairs, stopping just short of falling off. He jumped to his feet, trying to ignore the Minotaur for now, as Scylla was the much bigger threat.

Annabeth and Percy fell into their dance again, making their way through the mass of tentacles to make it to the main body, where Annabeth once again held up Aegis, right in Scylla's many faces, causing it to rear back in either disgust or fear. Percy took his chance, dashing forward and cleaving off three of her legs. "Percy, look out!" Annabeth cried. She pushed him out of the way, only to be swatted aside herself by the Minotaur.

Percy leapt to his feet, not even having the time to think before he engaged his first kill once again. Blade held high, Percy dueled the Minotaur while Annabeth recovered. Percy tried to keep the Minotaur between himself and Scylla, so the reptilian monster would have a more difficult time attacking him, but that didn't pan out.

One of her legs wrapped around the son of Poseidon's ankle and tripped him up, making him fall down a couple steps and hit his head. "Percy!" Annabeth called, now between the two monsters, with Scylla not looking too happy with her. Annabeth figured she couldn't beat this thing one-on-one, given that she'd swallowed many-a demigod in the past.

" _Hey, get up, buddy! Your girl is gonna die!"_ Riptide screeched in Percy's head while he tried to focus his vision.

"I know!" Percy yelled, only to be swatted further down the stairs by the Minotaur, who was focused squarely on him. "I can't shake this asshole!"

" _Use your water!"_

"I can't _make_ any right now! I'm too weak from earlier and from yesterday! I doubt I'm even at ten percent!"

" _Well, if you don't do something, then blondie is gonna kick the bucket!"_ Riptide argued. Percy stole a glance her way, only to see Annabeth get wrapped up in Scylla's tentacle legs. As Percy watched, the Minotaur smashed its fist into Percy's face, digging his head further into the ground, what little there was of it, before dropping its weapon. It then curled one of its thick, meaty hands around Percy's neck, using the other to hold down his sword arm.

Instantly, alarms went off in Percy's brain. Pain flared throughout his body from the forceful grip, which drowned out the Minotaur's roar. " _Annabeth!"_ Percy yelled in his head, trying to summon that indomitable willpower he'd used to beat Atlas. " _Gotta get to Annabeth!"_

Percy couldn't summon that strength, even with the thought of Annabeth's gruesome death. Instead, he had to match the Minotaur's monstrosity, its baseness, its primordial, feral nature. Percy yelled out a choked gargle which matched the monster's in volume, before managing to break free of its grasp and stabbing through its neck.

The Minotaur didn't disperse right away, like it would've had he stabbed its heart. Instead, it lingered and fell onto Percy, the weight hitting him in many more ways than one.

It was like an epiphany. _This_ is what Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth had gone through on the streets. It was a world where it wasn't so much a battle of good or evil, but of survival. In this battle, there were no gods, no monsters, just obstacles; faceless shadows that blocked your path to salvation. Olympus. It was…disturbing, unfair. That was why Luke wanted to change it, by gathering those demigods and leading them. It was a revelation Percy didn't realize he could have.

 _"Luke…you don't blame the gods…you never did…"_ Percy thought, entranced. _"You blame yourself…"_

"Percy!" Annabeth's call shook him from his stupor, causing him to shoot to his feet in a flash. With a renewed energy, Percy thundered up the steps to meet Scylla in combat. The monster seemed taken aback by the full-on assault, and wasn't prepared when Percy began carving off huge chunks of monster flesh. It whipped him away with Annabeth, flinging her along with him.

The two didn't even falter, continuing their assault until all of the legs were severed, leaving the heads. By this point, the demigods were on the opposite side of it. "Let's go," Annabeth suggested, though as soon as she said it, one of Scylla's heads bit into her foot and started dragging her back.

"Damn it!" Percy grabbed a hold of Annabeth's hand. He grimaced; the wound would be bad. He'd say irreversible if ambrosia didn't exist, that and Percy's water healing, which would come into play shortly. "I need to kill it!" Percy felt a tug at his gut, silently wondering why it hadn't been there against the Minotaur, as he built up power in his free hand.

"No! That much power could shatter the stairs; we'd plummet-" Annabeth argued.

It was too late. Percy released the blast, exploding in a ball of boiling water and steam. The force of the burst was enough to send both Percy and Annabeth flying, straight up the small rest of the way and through the doorway to Olympus.

xxxXXXxxx

Hades was blasted back into a building, charred skin and ichor covering his body. Through it all, he kept his smirk. "Still playing games, Hades?" Hyperion wondered, something of a smile appearing in his light-show face.

He looked over to the demigods; Bianca looked to be almost on her feet. "I think you need a new plaything," Hades remarked. "Artemis!"

"I will handle him!" Zoë claimed, charging into the battle to allow Hades some breathing room. He stumbled away, even as Zoë was clearly outmatched. It truly was a shame that the original Artemis had fallen. Zoë, her replacement, might have more raw talent that Artemis ever did, but the original had four thousand years' worth of experience and reflexes. Still, with the proper guidance, this Artemis could reach that within a few decades…possibly.

And even so, Zoë did her duty; distraction. " _Because that is all I seem to be good for anymore,"_ she thought to herself.

Meanwhile, Hades made it to Winona and Bianca. "Heya, pop!" Bianca greeted. "Nice of you to show up!"

He ignored the girl, turning to Winona. "You, come with me."

"Y-yes, Lord Hades," she followed him a ways away from Bianca. "We need to get back in there and fight."

"Wrong," Hades said, looking to Hyperion. "My daughter and I will end it. I need you to merely provide incentive."

That sounded very ominous coming from the Lord of the Dead. Winona stepped back, anxious. "What…what do you mean?"

Just a moment later, Bianca saw two souls fighting Hyperion. "Win?!" she exclaimed, confused. "Get out of there!" she yelled. "You can't fight him!"

"I _have_ to do this, Bianca!" she called back.

"You idiot mortal!" Hyperion roared, insulted that Winona would treat challenging him so lightly. He whirled around as Winona went up to attack, blasting her repeatedly with piercing light, physically cutting into her skin. Winona let out a blood-curdling scream of pure agony, but it was all part of the plan.

Bianca stumbled forward a few steps before collapsing from her wound. She tried to will her shadows to obey, but she was too weak. "Release it, my child," Hades prodded.

"Shut up!" Bianca yelled, desperate to save her friend, who was still receiving a major beatdown, alongside Zoë, who had to recover from several attacks and a few stragglers from the army. "I can save her!"

"Not as you are now," Hades claimed. "Now, when you confronted me…then we're talking about a different story, but here, when you let yourself be handicapped..."

Bianca bit her lip. " _I'll go out of control…again…I'll lose everything I've built up…"_ her voices became ever more depressing.

"Fear not, my child," Hades' voice was right in her ear. "I will show you how to block out the sun."

Hyperion was laughing maniacally, finally having a reason to use his full power. First he fought some of the strongest the Olympian force had to offer, and then he got to beatdown on one of the Big Three!

"Hyperion!" he heard, making him stop attacking Winona momentarily. The daughter of Apollo looked weakly over at Bianca, who seemed to stand tall and confident.

"You dare face me, mortal?!" Hyperion challenged.

"…My friend needs my help," Bianca answered, lifting up her hand. Winona's eyes widened.

" _She wouldn't…"_

"You've left me with no choice but to use my full power," her voice was slow, methodic, controlled. She kept it that way to trick her brain into being controllable as well. She slipped her blindfold off, feeling the madness return. This time, though, she didn't feel like laughing.

Bianca opened her eyes, visual stimuli bombarding her brain. It was the first time Winona saw her eyes; she'd gotten close to taking off the blindfold before, but after seeing just how important it was to Bianca, Winona ultimately gave up. This time, though, Bianca had taken it off willingly.

She had ghostly-white irises, like bones. Her shadows altered a bit. Instead of jagged and blade-like, they changed to flowing and seamless. They surrounded her like a blanket, shrouding her face in darkness. The power made her hair stand on end, making it look like a black flame, with the only thing visible from her neck up being her eyes, which held a killing intent like no other.

Hyperion scoffed, unimpressed, shooting a beam of light her way. It was stopped, however, by another's shadow; Hades'. He too surrounded himself in darkness, joining his daughter. Together, none of Hyperion's attempts to ward them off made it through. They approached him slowly, until the darkness was centimeters away from the Titan.

"This time," Bianca and Hades spoke as one, their power adding to each other over and over, compounding their might. "You experience the fear I hold within."

The shadows charged forward in a wave, encasing Hyperion in a black bubble. Even his body of light didn't make it through the thick fog of madness and fear. It lasted for a few seconds, and then receded. Hyperion was on the ground. He was alive, but scarred. He likely wouldn't be able to speak for the rest of his life, and he was far too distraught to fight anymore is for sure.

Hades contained his shadows calmly, while Bianca's dispersed in a puff as she collapsed, falling into a state of unconsciousness. Winona caught her, silently thanking her for pulling through.

Then, of course, the worst thing happened.

That's right, _another_ wave of monsters showed up after Hyperion's defeat. Zoë later learned that these were those who fled after Mount Orthys was assaulted, though by whom she was unaware of at the time.

"Damn, and we're out of options…" Hades muttered. The only one of them in even remotely fighting shape was Zoë, and she couldn't protect everyone. Even her Hunters were all but spent.

Thankfully, she wouldn't have to fight any longer. A burst of green shot from behind them all, as grass grew and then reached the enemy, entangling them.

"The wild has returned!" Zoë heard a strangely familiar voice. She turned back to see that odd satyr who was friends with Percy, along with a redhead girl who Zoë could tell was completely mortal.

"What in the name of the gods-" she began, only to have a figure emerged, along with about three hundred different species of natural wildlife which went on to trample the remainder of the army.

"Let my name be spread once more," the old goat-like figure said. "Know that the god, Pan, shall preserve nature once again."

"Where did you…Pan was considered dead!" Winona exclaimed to Grover. "Where'd you find him?!"

"In the Labyrinth!" Grover said, obvious ecstatic to be above-ground. "We spent months in that gods-forsaken maze. After Daedalus died, though, it stopped changing!"

"After that," Rachel, the mortal girl. "It was just a matter of following Pan's trail. He'd been waiting for us, saying that he was 'growing impatient' or something."

With everything odd, unfair, and cruel that had occurred over the past four days, the Olympians were just glad that this strange occurrence helped them instead of hurt.

With Pan's arrival, the battle was won. Cleaning began, even as they all knew that the true final battle was about to be waged in Olympus itself.

xxxXXXxxx

Percy and Annabeth landed in the water, deep water. Annabeth had been knocked more-or less unconscious for a few seconds, forcing Percy to drag her up to the surface. She coughed up some water when they made it, and she opened her eyes. "…We made it…" she muttered, the two finding a floating piece of wood to hang onto. The water filled Percy with strength once again, but it did nothing for Annabeth.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Fine, just…" she groaned as she tried to lift herself up onto the blank, only to fail. "Just gimme a minute."

"Annabeth, we don't have a minute," Percy said, trying to use his spare strength of heal her foot and her fatigue. He didn't know how successful he was being. "Kronos is in there," he pointed to the throne room, where beyond waited the Heart of Olympus. "He could be trying to destroy everything as we speak."

"But…" Annabeth started. She looked down into the water, at her reflection. She scowled, hating how weak she looked. She even found herself shedding tears. "That's not fair…" she muttered.

"Nothing about our lives is," Percy claimed, lifting himself up to stand on the surface.

"Please, Percy!" she grabbed his ankle, suddenly desperate. "Don't go without me!"

"I have to, Annabeth," Percy claimed, even as it was the hardest this to resist her. Her eyes pleaded with hi, but he knelt down and gently removed her hand from his ankle.

"It's not fair!" Annabeth repeated. "You'll be slaughtered!"

Percy looked to the throne room. It was almost as if he could feel Kronos' presence, beckoning him to go. "…Maybe," he admitted. "But…once this is over…I'm free. I'm free from this life."

"You idiot!" Annabeth yelled, not thinking before she spoke. "What good is being free if it's only for a few minutes! We love each other, Percy! You don't _get_ to just throw your life away! It's stupid, and selfish, and…and…" she trailed off, bawling.

He shook his head. "…I'm sorry, Brighteyes. This time, I'm gonna have to be selfish," he said. "I have to go, Brighteyes," he said, walking away. "I have to go."

She stared off after him. "Don't you dare forget your promise…" she warned, thought to Percy, it sounded like it wasn't directed at him. "Put your fucking sword up!" she yelled. He obliged, raising his blade high and proud, as he walked away from what could have been his last conversation with the woman he loved.

Percy entered the throne room, and saw Kronos' golden glow before him.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey all! Um...cliffhanger? Yay? Don't kill me, but I might need a few more days like I said yesterday. Hope that's alright.**

 **But some things about this chapter...I had a lot of a trouble writing it. It wasn't that I was uninterested, but I am so burnt out of writing fighting scenes, and I didn't really have a plan for how the fight between Zo** **ë, Bianca, Winona, and Hyperion was going to go, at least until HAdes comes into the picture.**

 **The fight with Percy, Annabeth, the Minotaur, and Scylla was a last-minute decision. It might seem out-of-nowhere, but I think it fit...relatively well. Now, as for whether or not Scylla would technically be t allowed to be there, like if she was cursed to stay int eh Sea of Monsters, I don't know and I don't care.**

 **Anyway...Annabeth's special spear-thing was a reference to Cordelia's super attack in Fire Emblem Warriors. Just though I'd let you know. I've been playing that a lot recently.**

 **Other than that, note. Upon the next chapter release, I'll be changing the status of this fic to "complete", so if you find it by checking the most recently updated in the "on-going" filter, you won't find it tomorrow. I encourage those that haven't already to follow. Only favorite it if you like it. Though, if you've read this far, you're probably pretty invested.**


	63. Let's See How Far We've Come

**IMPORTANT NOTICE!**

 **If you care at all about the sequel to this story, then please read to the end, including the Author's Note., for the title so you can keep an eye out for it. also, consider following me as an author, and if you liked the book, favorite as well.**

 **Without further ado, though, it's time for the finale!**

xxxxxxxxXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxx

"Olympians!" Zeus yelled. "Forward!"

The gods clashed with Typhon, barely managing to hold it back, let alone destroy it. Zeus' forces were all but spent, with Heracles and Dionysus leading the charge on the ground, taking care of the monsters that spawned from Typhon as the greater gods took on the beast itself. As it was, they were spread too thin.

At this rate, Typhon would reach the coast. "I _refuse_ to let that happen!" the King of the Gods exclaimed, soaring through the sky and hurling his fabled lightning bolt at the beast. A massive energy burst shot from the impact point, and Typhon was forced back a bit, but very little damage had been done. "Tch…"

"My love!" Hera called to him. She pointed to another huge army of monsters that appeared after Zeus' attack. Much more, and the ground Olympians would be overrun, even with two gods on their side.

"Father!" Athena voice similar concern, with land being in sight.

"Curse it all!" Zeus roared, not seeing any way out of the situation. Then another weapon shot past him and pierced Typhon just as Zeus' bolt had done. It was shot in a sea-green light.

"General Tyson, I leave the spawn to you!" Poseidon claimed as he joined the battle, all of his forces adding to Zeus' own to triple their numbers. Zeus smirked.

"I had expected you to cower in your palace until the noise died down!" Zeus mocked the sea god.

"Let's just say I took the advice of a pathetic mortal for once!" Poseidon returned. "But now, at the very least, you will owe me your _life_ , brother!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves!"

With that, the Olympians were rejuvenated, all of the gods present attacking Typhon at once.

xxxXXXxxx

Percy found Olympus to be a sorry sight, even if he did think the added water was an improvement. Most of the buildings and ornate archways were just rubble after Kronos made it through, as if a battle had taken place here as well. No monsters blocked Percy's path, so he made a beeline for the Heart of Olympus.

As he drew closer, he heard the sounds of distant battle. Percy's heart began racing as he entered the room which housed the Heart. He saw Kronos doing battle with Hestia.

" **You will fall!** " Kronos screeched, blasting the goddess away in a brilliant flash of golden energy, blasting her next to the flame. Hestia managed to get onto her knees, and activated the Olympians' last resort; a barrier.

It took time, though, and Kronos wasn't willing to give her any. Hestia kept trying to put the shield up, but he kept hitting her, causing ichor to splash onto the ground and walls, but she persevered, holding her hands up and out to form the shield. Percy charged forward, grabbing Kronos by the arm, and throwing him away, using all of his strength to do so.

The Lord of Time stood quickly.

"Kronos!" Percy yelled. He held his arms out in challenge. "Face me!"

" **Tch, you live?** " Kronos muttered, temporarily shifting his attention away from Hestia. " **You are no match for me, mortal! Join me and fulfill your role in the Great Prophecy!** "

"I won't!"

" **It is your destiny to take this part, Perseus Jackson. You cannot avoid this fate.** "

Percy set his jaw. "I refused the offer once, and I'll do it again, Kronos," he claimed. He raised his blade to the Titan Lord. Just then, the barrier completed itself.

"There, it is done," Hestia choked out, all but collapsing. "Only the joining of god and demigod can remove the seal now; you lack the full benefit of both as you are now, father."

Kronos' attention shifted back to Hestia and turned to the worst. " **What?!** " he demanded, seeing that he'd lost his chance. " **No!** "

"You've lost, Kronos," Percy said.

" **Fool! I refuse to let you ruin everything! You will take down the barrier if I must force you to in a near-dead state!** " his bellows echoed through the chamber.

"Fine then!" Percy snapped back. "Then I'll be the last Olympian you have to overcome to obtain victory!"

" **I would not have it any other way!** " the Titan Lord charged, beginning the true final battle in the Titan War.

The fight began with a clash. Kronos' scythe, this massive, hulking weapon which looked far to unruly to physically wield, came crashing into Percy's blade, sending shockwaves through the air which cracked the stones beneath them.

Percy grunted, nearly coughing up blood from the effort of holding it back. It wasn't that the blow was stronger than Atlas, it was that Percy was so much weaker now then he was then.

Kronos then let loose a flying kick at the son of Poseidon, which sent him careening outside. He was knocked further away as he shot his own blast of searing water at Kronos, who swiped it away like it was nothing as he charged toward Percy, never giving him an inch.

Percy willed the water outside to come to him, forming a small ring around which parried many of the Titan Lord's weaker blows, allowing Percy to get some small shots in. Not that it did any good; Luke had bathed in the River Styx. His body was impervious except in a single area.

So then the battle became a race for Percy to find that one spot before Kronos killed him. Of course, that was easier said than done.

Percy weaved through another swipe and vaulted over his opponent's head, thinking it would've been smart to put the spot on his backside, for so long as you never ran, your opponent would never get the chance to hit you there. Of course, then if he was surrounded it would be bad, but Percy didn't know what Luke's intended use for the Curse was; for this single battle with Percy or for larger fights with entire armies.

Well, it was more or less the same thing.

Percy took potshots for a brief period before Kronos began exerting his control over time. He slowed it down, allowing himself time to turn around and parry Percy's blow.

The clang and disorientation of slow-down caused Percy's concentration to falter, breaking his ring of defense, leaving him with just his blade. He willed another to form, and the battle resumed.

Hestia watched on, speechless. Never in her years had seen a conflict so intense and focused. This wasn't Achilles getting vengeance. This wasn't Hercules battling the Hydra. This was two men of near equal skill, unparalleled by mortals, and Hestia was willing to bet by immortals as well. She _knew_ that Kronos didn't have this skill; he was syphoning it from Luke.

Percy's brain had turned off, and he just let himself fall to the flow of battle. The pushbacks, the offensives, the _rush_. He was pushed back. He shook his head. " _No…this is wrong,"_ he thought numbly, even as he charged forward once again.

He attacked sloppily, his focus broken again. Kronos took advantage and blasted Percy outside. The demigod stood to see a massive golden light emanating from Kronos's scythe.

The Titan Lord launched two consecutive energy waves, which Percy had to cut through with his own. The remainder of the waves went past and sliced through several more structures like they were butter; if they'd made contact with Percy, he'd have been done for.

Kronos was grinning sadistically, his eyes reflecting the malice that Percy had once shared for seeing his opponent squirm. " **Filthy Olympian…** " he began. " **Once I regain my true form, I will have your head for causing so much pain in mine.** "

"I'm flattered you think so highly of me," Percy returned. "And if you hadn't noticed," he summoned a wave of water to either side of him. "You just pushed me back to my home field!"

" **It matters not,** " Kronos claimed.

"Then try this!" he shot his waves at the Lord of Time, but right before they hit, he disappeared. What occurred next took place within the span of about a third of a second.

Percy saw out of the corner of his eye that Kronos was about to tear Percy's head off with his scythe, after having nearly stopped time to get behind him for this opportunity. " _Move,"_ Percy told himself. " _Move, move, move!"_ he yelled in his head. A calm forced its way into his frantic brain, and his body shifted ever so slightly, arching his back just enough to avoid the scythe as it passed. The Achilles Curse probably helped with that one, but now it was close-quarters combat once again. Percy noticed that Kronos was breathing harder after that little stunt, perhaps implying that his usage of his time-stop was limited or at least draining. It was likely to be used as a sort of last resort, at least this drastic an application of it, but that didn't pan out.

Percy summoned a blade to fight with alongside Riptide and went to work. He kept looking for new points to try and test their weakness, and made sure to only try with his self-made weapons. He had no idea if he was right or not, and wasn't going to risk Riptide being broken from a full-force stab into an adamantium skin layer.

Lucky for Percy, he wouldn't need to worry about Riptide for a bit. After one of Percy's failed attempts to stab Kronos through with a sword, he took advantage and disarmed Percy, leaving him momentarily without a weapon. In the time it would take to form another one or two, Kronos could've ripped Percy in half, so Percy attacked with his fists. Yes, his fists.

He stopped Kronos' arm as he went for a swing of the scythe, and then decked the bastard in the jaw, with it feeling like he was hitting a brick wall. Still, it got the job done; stunning Kronos and allowing Percy the opportunity to vault over his pitiful attempt to retaliate, and propelled himself off just as Kronos managed a swing.

The Lord of Time dashed across the surface of the water, hoping to catch Percy as he fell, but Percy willed the water to come up and both knock away Kronos and to rise up and allow him faster access to the water.

Kronos growled, understandably frustrated at Percy's lack of dying. Percy shot steaming geysers from the water, trying to nail the Titan King, but his time manipulation allowed him to move before any danger could be presented. Percy couldn't produce them fast enough to out-play him like when in one-on one sword combat.

He eventually surfaced; wasting energy producing geysers wouldn't do him any good. Kronos didn't allow him any room to breathe, continuing to press the assault. Percy managed to block the attacks, and retaliated in kind, stabbing a self-made sword into Kronos' side, only for it to shatter upon contact. The impact did nothing to Kronos.

He began laughing as he launched his counterattack. " **Hahaha!** " he cackled. " **To think that you had caused me such issue during my rise!** "

He continued pressing Percy back, blasting him back further and further as Percy felt Riptide return to his pocket. "Maybe I'm just holding back!" Percy bluffed. It didn't faze the Titan Lord, as he just kept laughing. Percy growled, drawing Riptide. "Stop laughing!" he demanded, attacking ferociously.

Their weapons clashed, and Percy was brought face-to-face with Kronos. " **Hahahahahaha!** " his bellows echoed through Olympus. " **Know this, Last Olympian: nothing will be more satisfying than watching you fight so futilely, only to fall just as you began; alone.** "

"You're wrong!" Percy returned, even as he swung a self-made weapon, which Kronos shattered with a swipe of his own. "I'm not alone!"

" **You wish to be free of this life?!** " Kronos uppercutted, blasting Percy high up above Olympus. He followed up with his time-stop, with Percy just barely managing to block the attack which sent him careening back down to the ground. " **Fine; allow me the chance to send you away to death with** _ **everything**_ **you hold dear!** " he slashed through the air as he came down, sending two massive waves of energy flying towards the still-falling Percy.

He built up enough power to cut right through the first one, but when he tried to parry the second it just blasted Riptide out of his hands again and sent him down harder. Percy crashed into the outer courtyard in an explosion of grass and rubble. Kronos sent down a final wave of energy, crushing the demigod into the stone and blasting him away, back to the entrance to Olympus, through a building.

Blood dripped down Percy's arm, face, and torso when he came into Annabeth's view. He stood shakily from his impact, with Kronos quickly following up.

Percy tried to create weapons, but his powers felt like they'd finally run dry. He mustered small shields which took a hit then shattered, while Kronos continued pounding away. Percy struggled to stand. Kronos was panting, satisfied with his work. " **You will now die. I will send your beloved with you shortly, though she will not go to the same place as one who rejects the gods,** " Kronos said, rearing back his scythe.

"Percy!" Annabeth called. His gaze shifted up as she threw Aegis toward him like a disc. The son of Poseidon acted on pure instinct, catching the shield, barely, and using it to bash Kronos' scythe as it came. The retaliation was enough of a shock to make the Titan Lord's grip fail, and send the weapon flying.

Kronos kicked Percy away, but the majority of damage was blocked by Aegis, which Percy strapped to his arm, forming a blood sword out of desperation, and will another four to form around him. Though, with all of the blood loss he'd already sustained, compounded with his fatigue, in addition to drawing more to create weapons…Percy was feeling understandably dizzy.

Percy shot the weapons at Kronos, who was busy trying to find his scythe. The first one made contact, but shattered on impact; even the incredible power they possessed wasn't enough to override the rules of the Achilles Curse it seemed. The second two were parried with Kronos' bare hands, and sent flying back at Percy. He didn't have the strength to stop them anymore, and settled for rolling under them and charging Kronos while he was without a weapon.

Percy pushed the Titan Lord back, further away from his weapon, trying to find the single sweet spot to finish the job.

Kronos knew he couldn't fight Percy like this. He needed to get some advantage. Soon enough, Percy would find the Achilles Spot, and with that potent a weapon…

Percy reared back his blade and swung, with the intention to either do permanent damage or ruin his blade to try. He didn't make contact.

He noticed a shift in Kronos' face, back to Luke's. His pure golden irises shifted, to have a small ring of sky blue within the gold. "Percy!" it was Luke's voice that called out to him. Percy hesitated. Just as quickly as it had come, Luke's presence disappeared. Kronos smirked, using Percy's hesitation to his advantage by punching him away, allowing the Titan time to retrieve his weapon.

The son of Poseidon was still reeling from Luke's appearance and the subsequent hit when Kronos was back on him. Percy's block game was weak, quickly allowing Kronos the chance at a killing blow. But then Kronos stopped in his tracks.

Luke's presence returned, forcibly stopping Kronos' attack and allowing Percy the chance to fully recover. "If you're to topple Olympus, you'll do it with honor!" Luke roared defiantly as he lost control of his body again. Kronos attacked again, frustrated that he was stopped by a mere demigod's will. " **Rragh! Idiot boy!** " he exclaimed.

A million different thoughts raced through Percy's mind, as it became dangerously close to reality that he was going to have to kill Luke through killing Kronos. Throughout the course of the fight, Percy had assumed that Luke was simply gone, but now…Even in this battle, Percy felt a nagging guilt upon thinking he'd have to kill the son of Hermes. It just didn't feel right.

Luke didn't deserve any of this; he was a kid who resented his father and those like him. He was fed everything he wanted to hear by Kronos, using his thieving skills to set everything into motion leading up to this day. Luke was manipulated, and Percy had a feeling that he at least partially realized that.

The other part of him, though, was still in that delusion, that Kronos was simply the better option. That was the part that tolerated Kronos and his ambitions. That was the part that Percy needed to convince.

"Luke!" Percy called toward the Titan. "I _know_ you can hear me!"

" **That mortal is dead and gone!** " Kronos roared, slamming his scythe across Aegis, sparks flying in the air.

Percy continued. "You were right!" he called. "Remember what you said, about the gods not deserving to rule the world? You were right!" Percy pushed Kronos back to the throne room. Well, it was give and take, with Kronos oftentimes shoving Percy closer to it as well. "But look at how Kronos acts, what he does! Is he any better? The gods may be flawed, but their rule is salvageable. Kronos is a _monster_! You _know_ that!"

" **Shut** up!" Luke's voice pulled through for a split second. " **The gods robbed me of my rightful throne! My own children ripped me from my place in this world! This power, this position; it is my** _ **right**_ **!** "

Their weapons clashed again, with Percy being inches away from Kronos, neither one taking the advantage for a moment. "I can only imagine what it was like for you, after your group of demigods fell, after Thalia was abandoned. I can only imagine the hatred that festered in you…"

" _That kinda feeling, when directed at someone…can be dangerous. It can bring out the worst in you sometimes._ "

"I don't know how you lasted so long with those feelings," Percy admitted. "But this…this isn't justified by them."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Luke roared, taking control again and blasting Percy's blood sword from his hands in two deft strikes.

" _Crush him,"_ Annabeth's order, Percy's promise to do so, rang in his ears. He pushed further, bashing Luke's face with Aegis.

"The countless deaths that have happened. They're on you," Percy claimed. "You didn't save anyone but yourself by allying with Kronos."

"I've saved dozens of demigods!" Luke returned.

"All of them were targeted!" Percy retorted. "During today's attack, the drakons crushed half of them under rubble!"

"You're lying!" Luke returned, only to rear back, his presence disappearing again. " **Cease your resistance, boy!** " Kronos demanded, getting into a furious exchange of blows with the son of Poseidon, with Kronos shooting him back toward the Heart of Olympus. Hestia watched in awe at the power and skill being flung around by the two.

Percy managed to retain his form, continuing to search for that one sweet spot to land the finishing blow. He'd created a small amorphous edge to strike with. Riptide hadn't returned to his pocket yet, and he wouldn't let himself use Oathkeeper. Though, that might be his only option if he didn't end things soon.

Percy had determined that the spot had to be somewhere on Luke's torso. He'd gone for his legs and arms and had gotten not reaction. Luke's body movements were indicative of protecting his torso, at least more than usual, but that didn't narrow it down much.

" _But he's so close to breaking free…"_ Percy thought hopefully, when he knew it wasn't likely to be a true statement.

" _Crush him,"_ Annabeth's order rang.

"You're a _good man_ , Luke!" Percy spoke again. "You aren't the type to relish the suffering of others!"

" **The boy cannot hear you!** " Kronos bluffed.

"Bullshit!" Percy returned, knocking Kronos away slightly. "You protected Annabeth and took her back to camp when I asked you to. You offered me time and again to join you, no matter how many times I refused. You did what you could to keep me alive, to not fight me."

" **Fool! It was all for this day! Everything the mortal did was to ensure that today you would make the right decision!** " the God of Time laughed, as if it were obvious.

"I can't believe that!" Percy said. "He has more willpower than that! He has the free will to talk back to you! I have to believe he made the choice to do those kindnesses for me! _You_ had nothing to do with them. You didn't make Luke who he is!"

" **The boy is simply a pawn!** "

"He's not a pawn! He's a warrior!" Percy let loose another furious series of attacks, attacking wherever he hadn't already. "Luke!" he tried one final time. "You _always_ keep your vows!" Percy could feel his strength fading. It would need to end within a few seconds, or the son of Poseidon might collapse from fatigue. He was literally at the end of his rope. "But you broke one today!"

" **Silence!** " Kronos roared, blasting Percy back right as he pinpointed Luke's Achilles Spot. He only had to hope he had the strength to pull off the attack.

" _Crush him."_

Kronos loomed over Percy, with the demigod having run out of strength. He just barely raised Aegis in time to block a lethal blow. The impact knocked it out of Percy's hands, the whiplash of the shielding ripping from Percy's arm snapping the limb. Percy hardly felt it as he fell to his knees. "Thalia is _dead_ ," Percy said sharply. "Felled by _your_ forces. She died protecting me."

Kronos reared back another lethal blow, and swung, but stopped, just short of Percy's neck. Kronos was still in control; that was clear, but he couldn't follow through with the final blow. At this point, Kronos was driven so mad with power and frustration that he seemed to have completely forgotten about the shield. It was Luke who held the Titan Lord back, if only just barely.

Percy reached to his side and drew Oathkeeper. The sight of the dagger caused a slight shift in Kronos' eyes, but the Titan was still in control. He was frozen. "Thalia is dead!" Percy repeated. He tried to stand, only to have Kronos react and kick him away. "Annabeth is alone!" Kronos followed through this time. Percy got onto one knee by the time Kronos was on him.

" _Crush him."_

" _I know,"_ Percy thought.

" _Crush him."_

" _Crush him!"_ Percy yelled in his head. He reared the dagger back. "You were supposed to be a family! You were supposed to protect them! You made her a promise!"

Percy shot the dagger toward Luke's Achilles' spot. It was a logical place; right at the heart, where one wouldn't expect the spot to be if they knew Luke had the curse, as it was so obvious, and a spot that Luke was used to protecting from, well, being mortal and having a heart that needed to be protected.

Time slowed down for the events that transpired after that. At first, Percy wasn't quite sure how to comprehend what happened. Sparks flew, and Percy saw most of the dagger snap off at the blade and fly up into the sky, only to land a few feet away from them.

Percy didn't know how to react. He fell to his knees and stared at the dagger. It was…broken…

Kronos' maniacal laughter was heard throughout Olympus. " **Insolent mortal!** " he exclaimed. " **To think you thought you could pierce my skin with that pathetic bronze toothpick!** "

"B-but…"

" **Perhaps if you'd had the strength to create a weapon of blood, your last ditch effort might have worked, but with** _ **that**_ **?! Hahaha! The best part? You were absolutely correct about where to strike. For a brief moment, I had thought you'd outplayed me, but it seems you just didn't have the strength to- ugh…** " Kronos lurched forward, doubling over in pain. " **Wha…what is this…? You…still…resist…?** "

Percy watched Kronos keel over, confused.

"We…I…I broke my promise…" Luke muttered, struggling out the words through Kronos' will. " **Fool! It doesn't matter! It was all a means to an end!** " Kronos returned. " **No! No! N** o! No…!" the glow around Luke faded, and his eyes returned to that piercing blue.

His forehead was drenched in sweat, the strain of keeping the Titan Lord under control putting an immense mental strain on the son of Hermes. "Luke, is that…?" Percy started, dumbfounded.

Luke struggled to put up Kronos' scythe which, before their eyes, morphed back into Backbiter. "Come on," Luke struggled out. "Let's finish this…this…this is how it was meant to end…fromt he very beginning..."

"But…" Percy didn't have the strength nor the willpower to continue. "What's the point?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You're in control, Luke," Percy stood shakily, barely being able to do so. "It's over."

"No, Percy. The gods-"

"The gods don't matter either," the son of Poseidon interrupted. "You think I'm fighting to save them? They're nothing."

"Then…why? If you believe that, then why don't you fight with me? Why have you never fought with me?" Luke questioned.

"…Luke…" Percy began.

" _E_ _veryone is the hero of their own story..."_

"I know you think what you're doing is for the greater good, but…"

"It is!" Luke snapped. "The gods are _horrible_ rulers! They watch us from above and laugh at our expense!"

"They're _not_ rulers!" Percy returned. "They're _people_ , just like you and me! They have flaws, they have wants and desires!" Luke stumbled backwards. "And just like them, I have people that I _need_ to protect! People that your crusade is threatening! _That's_ why I fight against you, Luke! Because I know, I've seen, that Kronos is willing to sacrifice anything and everything to get what he wants!"

"He won't!" Luke said desperately. "He promised me-"

"He's not one to keep promises," Percy said, gently. It was a hard truth, and Luke had to get out of his fantasy world and confront it. "Neither are the gods. We both know that."

"Then…" Luke lowered Backbiter. "Then…what are we supposed to do?" it was odd; Luke was beginning to break down. It was satisfying. Percy had always seen Luke as a friend who'd lost his way. He was never truly an enemy like Atlas or Daedalus or Minos. And to see him finally begin to consider…

"We have to take the first step ourselves," Percy said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Luke. Let's see how far we've come."

The phrase seemed to resonate within Luke. "…You can't kill me," he said finally. "You're too weak in your current state."

"I know," Percy said.

"But…there's another way…"

Luke turned to the Heart of Olympus, where the barrier was still up. Hestia figured his plan. She shook her head. "No," she refused immediately. "There is absolutely no way I will take down this shield!"

"Won't that destroy the flame?" Percy wondered.

"If Kronos was in control, yes, with his malicious intent. It would also destroy my body and return him to his original, full-immortal form. But if I stay in control, then…all that will happen is I will vanish."

"Vanish…?"

"Kronos' soul will be seared into mine, forever connected. I will be the dominant soul, I will perish, and my soul will go to the Underworld, or…perhaps somewhere else."

"Because you've denounced the authority of the gods," Percy said, recalling Kronos saying something similar of when Percy would fall. "But…for those who still believe in the gods…would we be able to find you in the Underworld?"

"…I don't know. But…" he shook his head. "Make your choice, Percy. Do you trust me?"

The son of Poseidon gave Luke a hard stare, looking for any crack in his control. He saw none, just a sad melancholy which he'd seen in Luke's eyes many times before. He knew this was the end, one way or another. "I do," he said, holding his hand to the barrier. "Lady Hestia, this is my choice."

The goddess had no choice of her own. She knew not to go against prophecy. He reluctantly aided Percy in taking the shield down, with it bursting without force into small crystals which faded away shortly. Luke and Percy both stepped toward the flame, and both stopped for a moment. This was their last conversation.

"…Do you have any regrets?" Percy wondered.

"…Too many," Luke said, turning to the other demigod. "But I think my biggest is…" Percy expected something about Annabeth or Thalia. "…that I never tried to see eye-to-eye with my father."

The statement seemed right. His father…not Hermes, God of Messengers. Hermes, his father. Percy turned to the flame, seeing its beauty as he heard Luke start to sob.

"I wonder…could you ever find it in you to forgive me…for everything I've done…all the lives I've cost…all of the heartache I've sown…?"

Percy managed a soft smile. "I can," he said genuinely, only to turn and realize that Luke wasn't talking to him. Hermes, or at least a small part of his essence, was standing between Luke and the flame, with a soft, warm smile on his face, a hand on his son's shoulder. It wasn't god to mortal, but father to son.

When Luke turned to Percy, Hermes disappeared. "Time is…odd. It ebbs and flows, and branches off into infinite possibilities."

"…I can only imagine."

"I didn't have to, Percy," Luke claimed, reaching his hand out. "I've seen everything."

Luke middle and index finger touched Percy's head, and an infinite number of images and visions flooded Percy's mind instantaneously. The son of Poseidon couldn't comprehend any of them individually, but he knew that many of them were happier than what ultimately played out. Some were of Luke staying with the Olympians. Some were of Percy joining him right from the start or somewhere down the line. Most all of them ended with Luke alive in some form. It made Percy…jealous, dissatisfied with the outcome he got.

In a split second, Luke removed his hand, and tears were pouring out of Percy's eyes from the overwhelming sense of longing that came with the what-ifs.

Percy didn't even have a chance to say anything, no "I'm sorry" or anything, before Luke turned and stepped into the flame.

It didn't look like it hurt. In fact, Luke had a smile on his face, as he was finally free of the burden of guilt, and he accepted the sweet embrace of death.

And then…it was over. The fight had been won. Olympus was in shambles, but it could be rebuilt. The gods had stopped Typhon with the help of Poseidon. All of the Titans that they were aware of were out of commission or straight-up dead.

Annabeth made her way up to Percy, the water slowly disappearing. She joined him on the steps up to the throne room, where he sit bloodied and broken, but alive. He was in tears, holding Oathkeeper, shattered, in his hand. She sat beside him, bringing him into a hug.

"…Are you mad?" he asked, referring to him breaking her dagger.

"…No," she answered. "You said 'even if it breaks,' remember?"

"Right…Annabeth…"

"Hm?"

"Before he died, Luke…he showed me. He showed me how this all could've turned out if things had happened differently."

"…I can only imagine."

"I…I saw myself killing you…" he said somberly, still not entirely believing that it was possible.

"Well…" she cracked a smile, despite everything that had happened, despite what Percy had just said. "Just make sure you don't do it to me anytime soon, okay?"

He chuckled dryly; it was fake. That feeling of emptiness was wrong, though, and Percy knew it. They just defeated the King of the Titans, the titan of Time. They'd repelled innumerable hordes of monsters and survived, felled some of the greatest beats the Greeks knew, and yet…they felt nothing. No satisfaction or joy or accomplishment.

The feeling didn't come even when the remaining campers and Hunters found their way to Olympus. Their numbers were nearly cut in half. If a straight one hundred campers came in, only sixty made it out. If one hundred Hunters came, then seventy made it out. Most of them were heavily injured. Clarisse was likely crippled for life from the stunt she pulled. Ethan was blinded. Zoë's arm seemed like it'd have a burn mark on it indefinitely as well, though whether that would hinder her in combat would be up for grabs. Over a dozen of the campers that made it out were rogue, and whether they'd return to camp, or even whether they'd be allowed to return, was questionable.

Percy saw Grover and Rachel, but didn't have the strength to greet them. Grover was busy anyway, tending to some of the more immediately treatable wounds of the demigods.

The battle had cost them dearly. Percy couldn't help but think if they'd used different tactics from the start, if they hadn't attacked on that first day, then more would've survived. He could only imagine how the dead's kin would react.

Several presences appeared behind Percy and Annabeth. They turned, seeing the gods in their thrones. They looked as battered as the campers, if not more.

The demigod force entered, with there being barely enough room to accommodate them. "Our children," Zeus greeted. "You have all done well."

The compliment felt…forced.

"We cannot possibly repay you for your service in the Titan War," Zeus continued. "We offer what we can however. Rebuilding will commence immediately, and we offer all of the accommodations that Olympus has to offer until they are complete. In addition, we will grant you whatever you most desire. Money, weapons, accessories, claiming. Anything."

The campers were silent. Zeus' words largely fell on deaf ears. Nothing could replace what they'd given up to protect the gods. "We want our friends back," someone said. Percy couldn't quite make out whom.

The gods shifted uncomfortably in their seats. "Unfortunately…we cannot rewrite death. Even we gods are incapable of altering natural law."

"I have something," Percy spoke up. "I want you all to make sure this doesn't happen again."

Murmurs of agreement arose from a few of the campers. "Please, Perseus Jackson, you know more of how it began. All you need do is tell us how to accomplish this. From there, we will do everything in our power to make it a reality."

"You need to protect the demigods who are getting to camp, even those we don't know about," Percy said. "I don't care what you do, even if it's just telling us about them so we can get them."

"Consider it done."

"And you need to claim every demigod," Percy continued. "Once they make it to camp, within two or three days."

The gods looked at each other. They may forget about a few. "If we cannot uphold this simple request, we do not deserve to have the children at all," Athena claimed. The gods quickly agreed.

"But," Percy said, adding a caveat. "I don't want to be claimed."

Eyes turned to Poseidon. He nodded. "I would expect nothing less," was all he said. If Percy hadn't said that, it would've gone against everything he had said to Poseidon.

"I have a request as well," Zoë said from Artemis' throne. "We twelve are not the only deities to aid the effort. I wish Hades to be given a throne, along with all of the minor gods, even those who fought against us."

"What?!" several of the gods quickly objected. "They're traitors."

"What brought about this desire?" Athena questioned.

"During my time among your children, I have learned the value of differing perspectives. It is what my predecessor lacked, and what a good many of you lack as well. Those who turned against us cannot attack us or Olympus directly, so the chance of another betrayal is next to zero, especially with the Titan Slayer's previous request of you taking better care of your children. I believe they would help us grow and improve as gods. As for Hades…he aided us in our most dire hour. I believe his induction into our ranks is long overdue."

"Thank you, Artemis," Hades held up his hand in protest. "But I think I'll pa-"

"Oh, come on, pop!" Bianca interrupted, her blindfold back on. "You aren't gonna get another chance like this anytime soon!"

Hades stopped dead, considering his next words carefully. He didn't know whether that was a threat or not. "…Very well. If you accept the request, I'll accept wholeheartedly.

The exchange confused the Olympians, but slowly, they agreed to this demand as well.

"I want Prometheus free of blame as well," Ethan said. "He played Kronos from start to finish and helped us escape when we made the mistake of attacking. I wouldn't have put it past Kronos to punish him."

"Very well," Zeus said. "Do be sure to keep him away from our valuables when he is freed."

"Alright! Congratulations!" Bianca slapped Hades on the back, making him yelp loudly in fear. Shocked eyes and ears turned to Hades, who quickly composed himself. He cleared his throat.

" _What did she do to him?"_ Riptide wondered in Percy's head.

" _No clue,"_ Percy returned.

"Is there anything else that you all desire?" Zeus asked.

"…Cabins," Ethan said. "For the minor gods' children, and for Hades."

"Very well. If that is all, we request that you all move to the infirmary," the King of the Gods said. The campers didn't argue, and most of the gods looked ready to disperse. "Except," he pointed to Percy. "You. You will stay."

Percy scowled at the god, not enjoying being ordered around. Still, he kept his mouth shut and waited as the others, including Annabeth, filtered out. Once they were gone, it was just Percy and the gods. "What do you want?" Percy questioned, his tone disrespectful to say the least.

Zeus sighed. "It is obligation," he answered. "Whether you care admit it, or whether we care to admit it, you have done an insurmountable service to us, Perseus Jackson. I understand your view of the gods is less than perfect," he began. "Even still, we offer you the greatest gift we can muster to you."

"…What are you…?"

"I was not entirely honest when I mentioned that we cannot revive the dead. However, once we revive a mortal's soul, they become immortal, as was the case with my son Heracles and with Dionysus. Perseus Jackson; I offer you godhood, as a minor god of the seas, under Poseidon."

"I already said I don't want to be claimed; why would you think I'd accept this?" Percy inquired, holding his broken arm. "I don't hate the gods, not like Luke did. I don't think you're fit to be where you are though; you're all children who haven't grown in four thousand years. My adding to your numbers wouldn't change that."

The gods stared Percy down, all but willing to kill him dead for his scathing comments. None of them spoke.

"I asked to be free of your influence. That's what I want."

"…We cannot give this to you," Zeus admitted.

"…I expected as much," Percy said after a moment. "You don't control prophecies, do you?" they shook their heads. "Fine. I'll fight to protect you; I already made that vow to Zo- I mean, to Artemis, and I'll extend it to all of you. If you need a champion…just ask."

The statement seemed to shock the Olympians, especially Poseidon. "Then…you suggest-"

"I wasn't finished," Percy interrupted. "I retain the right to refuse if I see fit. I get the same agency as you all do. I'm _not_ going to be your slave, and I'm _not_ going to do everything you need done in the mortal world; you have your other children and they're plenty capable. My life is mine; I've earned that much."

"That is fairly presumptuous of you, Perseus Jackson," Athena mentioned. "It should be us who decide whether you've earned anything."

"No, it shouldn't," Percy returned simply. "What gives you the right?"

"We are _gods_ ," Demeter said. "We govern the natural elements needed for you to survive!"

"Not in my eyes. You stole your thrones from the Titans," Percy returned. "And you can just as easily be dethroned. You heard what I said to Luke, before he perished, right? If you're gods, you must have heard what was said in Olympus, right?" the gods exchanged confused looked. "I said 'the gods are people, just like you and me. They have flaws, they have wants and desires'," Percy recalled. "Our relationship will be like mine with any other person. If I like you, I'll help you. If not, well…find someone else. So dad, you're shit out of luck," Percy turned around nonchalantly.

"I can agree to that," Zoë said, though she was obviously biased to his favor from her time with him.

"As can I," Poseidon agreed. "It is only fair, after what he's done for us so far. Still, it feels odd to not reward you with something other than words. Every hero has accepted one of our graces."

Percy thought about it for a moment. It didn't take that long to figure it out.

xxxXXXxxx

A while after they left, Annabeth found herself among her comrades, bloodied and broken, being cared for on Olympus of all places. Percy came out a few moments later, though she didn't see him until he was right as her bedside. Grover came by.

"Perce!" Grover greeted, getting the guy in a bear hug.

"Ow! Ow! Ribs, Grover, ribs!" Percy screeched, causing the satyr to let go. "What the hell happened?"

"I found Pan," was all Grover said. "He led me back to you."

"Neat," Percy said. "Um…" he didn't know what to say to the guy. They'd spent so long apart, meeting again was kind of…awkward, especially after everything that happened between their meetings. "So…how long was it in the Labyrinth?"

"Hm?"

"Doesn't time move weird in there?"

"Oh, well…it was probably a few months, maybe. It was hard to tell. After a while, the days seemed to blur together. A few days in, the Labyrinth stopped moving, so it was way easier to navigate. We didn't run into any monsters either, thank the gods."

Annabeth turned to the son of Poseidon. "It probably stopped moving and growing after you killed Daedalus," she reasoned.

"Must be," Percy agreed, not thinking much of it. It all seemed to long ago.

"Wait, what?!" Grover exclaimed. "You kill Daeda…whoa…dude, you need to tell me all of the details!"

"Maybe later, bro," Percy said. "For now…I just wanna go home."

"Well, we'll try and get us back there as soon as possible," Grover gave him a fist-bump. "Yo, I'll get someone to help you, aight?" he started walking away, but gave a few hand signs. Percy returned them and nodded.

"You should go talk to him more," Annabeth said, nudging Percy.

"I know, but…I think…" He pulled a small bag out. "I think I have something more important to do right now."

"More important than rekindling one of your closest friendships?"

"Yep," Percy said, offering the bag to her. "And spoilers, it isn't another dagger."

"It's," she took it out. "A hat?"

"A beanie," Percy said, recalling when he bathed in the Styx and saw an older Annabeth wearing it. He'd asked for that one. "It's magical too."

"How so?" Annabeth wondered, slipping it into her head.

"Well, let me just take it back and…" he reached up, grabbed it, and tugged, but the beanie stayed on her head nice and snug. "Okay, now you try to take it off," he said. She tried, and it easily slipped off. "It can only be taken off by you, and look where your forehead goes."

She looked; "P x A". She smirked as he grinned sheepishly. "Oh gods, you're so sappy," she brought him into an awkward hug. "I love you, Seaweed Brain."

"You too, Brighteyes," he said as they kissed.

xxxXXXxxx

Three weeks passed by without a hitch. With the gods' treatment of the campers, they were all back on their feet relatively quickly. Camp Half-Blood was still halfway in overdrive mode, and the campers weren't quite sure what to do with their time now that they didn't have the threat of war on the horizon.

The Hunters were still around, though they'd leave as soon as they were ready. Zoë was busy organizing who would hunt where and such, with many of the Hunters eager to travel again.

Chiron came back with the campers who didn't fight, and everybody tried to act as friendly as possible, with Chiron quickly reorganizing events and schedules, getting camp life back to normal.

Several campers had grown too old, hwoever. Ethan, Clarisse, Percy, and Annabeth had all passed eighteen, meaning they were completely free to wander the world at their leisure. Chiron could no longer prevent them from leaving camp.

None of them wanted to leave, however. "We'll find things to do," Percy said, folding his hands behind his head and leaning on them.

"Such as?"

"I can organize," Annabeth offered. "I know it's a big time-sink for you, and I can help new campers."

"I may not be able to fight," Ethan said. "But I do not fear those outside camp, like the gods. And I'm more…tactful, than the other one such here," Percy pouted. "I will be the camp's ambassador with outside forces. When not away, I can provide advice and scholarly advice to camp."

"You mean preach?" Percy teased.

"Only to a dull mind," Ethan said. "Not to mention, I can direct who goes where to escort new demigods to camp."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"It's more dangerous to let them try and here themselves," Ethan reasoned. The others agreed.

"I can be our spearmaster," Clarisse suggested.

"But you're crippled," Percy noted.

"Teaching is just as much verbal as it is physical," Chiron noted.

"Right, so you show them stances, I'll comment on form," Clarisse said to the Titan Slayer. Percy didn't really have any complaints with that arrangement.

"And what of you, Percy?" Chiron asked.

"Swordmaster," he said. "Daedalus may have been a traitor, but he was a damn good swordsman. We need someone with his skill to train the next generation. I nominate myself."

"Well spoken," Chiron noted.

"Yeah," Annabeth agreed, smirking. "Did you stay up all night to come up with that?"

Percy elected to ignore her comment.

"Very well. Then it shall be your choice to stay in your cabins. Otherwise, your accommodations no longer fall under my authority."

And that was that. Percy and Annabeth made plans to build a cabin of their own by the lakefront, and they were on their way to get some plans from the Athena cabin, when Zoë caught them.

"Ah, I have been looking for you two," she said after jogging up to them.

"Hm? What's up?"

"Well, aside from saying goodbye for now," she held out her hand. "I wanted to say 'congratulations'," she grinned, though it seemed force, like she felt obligated to do it. "I must say I'm against the act myself, and that you did it during wartime was especially irresponsible, but nonetheless, I wish you the best of luck in however you choose to deal with it."

"Wait, Zoë, what are you talking about?"

Zoë furrowed her brow. "What you didn't know?" she wondered. "That you were expecting a child?"

Both of the demigods jaws dropped simultaneously. Zoë waited for them to respond with something.

xxxXXXxxx

Winona and Bianca were exploring camp, getting used to the new cabins. "I wonder if the Hypnos cabin is nice to sleep in or if it just forces you to sleep when you step inside…" Bianca said.

"Not sure," Winona admitted. "Maybe we can ask someday?" she said two figured approaching in the distance. "Hey, is that? Yeah, hey Percy! He Annabeth, how's it-" she didn't get to finish, as they ran by so fast that they kicked up dirt and caused Winona to cough.

The two demigods rushed into the empty Athena cabin in frantic frenzy. "I'll get the water!" Percy exclaimed.

"I'll get the drachma!" Annabeth returned, both quickly getting their two items ready. Percy splashed the water, and Annabeth tossed the coin in.

"Show us the goddess Athena!" they both cried.

Her image quickly appeared. "Mother!" Annabeth called, startling the goddess from the urgency in Annabeth's voice. "We need your help!"

"What? What is it?" Athena questioned, expecting another monster attack.

"Demigod pregnancies, how do they work?!" Percy cried. Athena blinked. Tension rose up from the demigods as they awaited her answer. Then she laughed. "What's so funny?!"

"Mother! This is serious!"

"I realize, child," Athena composed herself a bit. "And I should probably be angrier than a worthless Poseidon-spawn was the one to do it, but it just…caught me off-guard, is all."

"Well?!"

"Truth be told, my memory of such an occurrence is hazy at best; this doesn't happen often between two demigods, you see. It's usually human and god or human and demigod. For daughters of Athena…hm…" a book materialized and Athena flipped through the pages. "I know I wrote it down somewhere…ah! The pregnancy can last anywhere from ten months to a year. No physical sign of pregnancy will occur until the moment of birth. No blood shall be spilled as the child appears from the thoughts of the mother, just as the mother was born from the thoughts of Athena," the goddess closed the book.

"So…will it hurt?" was Annabeth's first question. It was her turn to ask to stupid questions.

"Well, it felt like a birth when I had my children," Athena said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must have a word with Lord Poseidon."

"What?! No!" Percy cried, but the goddess had already wiped away the message.

The two stood in silence for a minute, unsure of how to react. Tears ran down their cheeks at the idea. They were going to be parents…they'd have a child. Millions of thoughts about raising the child raced through their minds, in addition to realization that either of them could die from a monster attack and leave the other to care for the child themselves.

"I don't want to think about it," Annabeth said finally. "We have at least ten months."

"But, Annabeth…we have to do _something_ , right?"

"We'll have it in the back of our heads going forward, but…" she chuckled. "Percy, we're only eighteen. Our lives have been absolutely consumed with this war since we met. I think…I think we need time to decompress, maybe a couple months. At least until next year, okay?"

Percy took a deep breath, trying to keep his emotions under his control. "Okay…I think we can manage that…"

"Hey," she raised his chin to look at her. "We'll be together, right? We don't have to face this alone."

Percy chuckled. "Heh, you make it sound like we're going to war again."

"Let's hope not anytime soon," she said, smiling. The two kissed and made their way to the bookshelf to begin figuring out their cabin, now with an extra bedroom in mind.

xxxXXXxxx

And thus, camp life seemed to return to normal. As promised, the gods sent pings out, notifying camp about demigods. Thanks to a coordinated effort arranged by Ethan, the matter of the initial burst of already-born-but-previously-unknown-demigods was handled smoothly. After that, there was a steady flow, with maybe three or four a week, meaning Annabeth got to give many tours, helping the new campers out and handing out their schedules to get them started.

It turned out that Percy didn't need to be Clarisse's dummy, as he figured out that he could just be her legs. He'd create water and stick them to her legs; they were without feeling anyway. She'd call out the next stance, sometimes in a row for Percy to execute to show the newbies a flourish or series of attacks, and that was that; Percy would move her legs accordingly. After some flubs near the starts, things worked smoothly there too.

Rachel, fully accepting her role as Oracle, found herself a nice little place where the Hephaestus campers built her a house. From there, she just acclimated to camp life, wandering around day-to-day and telling newbies where to go if they got lost, as well as warding people away from the monster-infested woods when they got too curious.

Everything was going great when _it_ happened.

It began as just a normal dinner. The pavilion was alight in joy. Things were finally starting to look up for the demigods.

Then green mist erupted from Rachel, as the Oracle took over. She stood, and stepped onto the table. " _Already?"_ Percy thought in his head.

She spoke to no one in particular, but rather to all of camp. It began sounding normal, but then people quickly realized; she was reciting the next Great Prophecy.

 _One burned and one fallen must risk it all_

 _Two sides alone, eons of hatred enthrall_

 _Three fatal choices, only one will mend_

 _For earth's last chance, destined seven rend_

 _Five natural giants, a storm will brew_

 _Six pure forces and a light break through_

 _Seven half-bloods will answer the call_

 _United they stand, divided they fall_

To be continued in… **United We Stand**

 **Author's Note:**

 **Finally!**

 **It's over! I have come out victorious over this behemoth of a project. I can't wait for the day when I start the sequel...and it dawns on me how much hell I'll have to pay to finish it. But until then:**

 **Blah, blah, blah; finale sappy speech about thank yous. Forget that shit. You guys have no fucking clue how excited I am to finally say this is finished. It's by far by longest project to date, coming in at 180,000 words longer than my original novel book thing. So...I don't know what says about me as a writer, that I would put so much effort into something that will never be published. But hey...it was fun enough I guess.**

 **I can only hope that you all enjoyed this journey as much I had making it for you all. I truly appreciate every single one of the reviews I have gotten and will ever get, positive or negative, because in the end, this is simply a learning tool for me as a writer to improve and make a more compelling story in my original works.**

 **That said, I care deeply for what I've created and I hope you all feel the same and are looking forward to the sequel, which I'll have more to say after the regular finale stuff.**

 **So, regular finale stuff:**

 **No unique prophecy to explain this time, but I want to address certain concerns that you may have had regarding the similarities in...we'll say consequences of the final book adaptation, including Beckendorf and Silena's deaths, Luke turning good at the end, and Thalia being out of commission for the final battle.**

 **I understand that some of you may be disappointed that I didn't stray further in terms of the consequences, but hear me out. I specifically structured much of the extra content in this book to make the impact of their deaths more satisfying than they were in the actual series. And, as for why I killed Thalia, it was because I hated how Riordan used her in the HoO, and I had no ideas for how to use her better, so I just killed her off.**

 **Um...sequel stuff? Sure.**

 **It will be called _United We Stand_ , after the final line in my version of the Second Great Prophecy...and that kickass Two Steps From Hell song too, I guess. No spoilers, but much like this was a re-adaptation of the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series, the sequel will adapt the "Heroes of Olympus" series.**

 **Note: if you like the storyline of HoO, I will be completely reworking it because I hated it. It will still be Greeks and Romans fighting the Giants, but beyond that and a few big plot points like the Mark of Athena journey from book three, the overall conflict will be largely different.**

 **That being said, I do need some stuff to happen between the big-ass story moments, and as such I will need to time to refresh my memory by rereading the series, at least up to book 4, and I might even read book 5 finally...maybe...probably not. Anyhow, as for when "United We Stand" is going to start posting, I have no early clue.**

 **This project wasn't supposed to take as long or take as much effort as it ended up taking (had planned to only spend a month on this, and you can see how well that worked out if I started last June), and I need to not only recharge my batteries, so to speak, but I am very Percy-d out right now and would like to get back to writing my original story. Thank you all for understanding...plus, I put off like five games to finish this, and I don't want to have bought them for nothing.**

 **Anyway, I will likely be uploading an in-depth behind-the-scenes thingy video on my YouTube channel, where I will ramble on for hours and hours about why I made the decisions I did. If you want to check that out, it should be out in...a month? Maybe less, maybe more, but keep an eye out. My YouTube anchor is "Hikaridewd54" if you're interested. Not that I have much that isn't shit on that channel for you to check out or anything.**

 **EDIT: I completely forgot to say my opening song choice for this season. This time I chose "Brave Shine", the second opening for Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (2014). It's a long title but it's a good show. the version; the full english cover by Dima Lancaster. Anyway, I used to think this song was like the best thing ever, but I've cooled on it since. Either way, I still think it's a nice compliment to "Last Theater". If that was Luke saying how he's resigned himself to his fate, then "Brave Shine" is Percy and Annabeth fighting desperately against theirs and Luke's. It really gives a feeling of "this is our last chance to make things right" which I was going for a lot in this adaptation.**

 **...**

 **I don't really know how to end this, but I guess I'll leave you all with another thank you for reading all the way tot he end. I encourage all of you to leave a review, even if you're reading this like four years down the line. I read every one, as they all appear as notifications on my phone. So I _will_ read them. Thanks again, and I'll see you when I see you, in _United We Stand_.**


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